UK Olympic 50p series

[kena]

Awww.....I can't play.....oh well but I understand it would not be fair.

We can always give a clue as to which coin is yours, it was the Queen on the front....lol.

Ken

[augsburger]

A clue, hmm.

Clue one, I hate this sport!!! Haha! Really, I think most of the designers did sports they did not actually particulary like!

[SandyGuyUK]

Well - the quest to find Olympic 50s still continues and at last I've now got some albeit, not through much luck on my own personal searching...

My sister-in-law works for a large supermarket chain and has managed to get looking at work and has sourced me the following ones:

Volleyball
Hockey
Goalball
Archery
Table Tennis*
Canoeing*

(*I'd already managed to source these two)

In the meantime, I'm continuing hassling my local Sainsburys store's customer service desk for a fiver's worth of 50s every Saturday and this week I actually managed to find some items of interest -

Aquatics
A 2009 Gibraltar 50p commemorating the capture of Gib (which I didn't have)
A 1998 UK EU 50p (Already had this and this was a particularly battered specimen)

Getting there gradually.....! 

[augsburger]

I've got twelve. Eleven of the ones that are circulating, so i need five more but i doubt i'll get them all in the next two weeks!

But I got an almost uncirculated cycling one yesterday!

[UK Decimal +]

Quick question (for KM updates).

As far as I can see, these coins are produced in two grades only.   "UNC" in mint packs, and "circulation".   Are any quoted as BU or Proof?

Please can you let me know a.s.a.p., as we have nearly reached the deadline for the new edition.

Many thanks,

Bill.

P.S.   What a gutty job proof reading has been!   I've done 1p through to 50p except Olympics which is nearly ready to send to George, but still have to do the £1, £2 and £5 - and then only the base-metal ones as there will be too much work involved in the off-metal strikes - unless anyone already has that info ... ...

Bill.

[africancoins]

Bill,
     the pieces in circulation are of a lesser standard to the Olympic 50 Pence coins in the individual packs - they have been made a bit differently. The pieces in the individual packs are obviously not proof coins. Therefore - the packaged pieces class as "B.U." (Brilliant Uncirculated).

For world coins generally - "B.U." can be a grade for a coin that will circulate, but to be B.U. that coin has to be free from even the very slightest mark from production, handling etc...

But often as with G.B. coins nowadays the mint sets out to make "B.U." coins and in doing so uses a slightly different method of manufacture (e.g the surfaces will be different) - then packages and make extra profit....

I noticed in the SCWC2011 (21st c) book - lots of the G.B. circulation denominations are without values in B.U. - has that been put right yet ? (Well I just checked Numismaster.... error still there...  see 50 Pence KM-991.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[UK Decimal +]

Thanks Paul,

When the "Blue Peter", now "Athletics", was introduced in 2009, I contacted the Royal Mint about the grade of strike.   They admitted that it was "UNCIRCULATED", not even what they call "BRILLIANT UNCIRCULATED".

However, I don't want to get into the old discussion about BU being a strike or the appearance!

That said, I can't see any reference to BU or Proof in the Royal Mint blurb about these coins.

Result:   Unless I hear otherwise very soon, I will advise KM that they best grade that they can expect will be "UNC" (in the packs) or "BU" by condition.   No mention to be made of Proofs.

Bill.

[africancoins]

Bill,
     the packed coins are B.U. - odd that they are not detailed as such on the packaging. The packaging does not say anything much of relevance to this.

Compare the portrait on a normal one and one in a pack.....

The hair detail on the normal piece is sharpen/rougher, the hair detail on the package pieces has a more rounded surface. Another comparison would be the coin surface that makes the background to the high jumper (Athletics).

If in doubt ask Andy.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[UK Decimal +]

Aha, found it!

Here is a copy of the response from the Royal Mint when I questioned them about the one issued (only in a pack, which we then called the "Blue Peter" coin) in 2009.

I think that the same applies with the 2011 ones.   It they had taken special care in the production process, I'm certain that they would be advertised and marked on the packs "Brilliant Uncirculated".

As a result of finding anything in their advertising, I can only assume that there are no Proofs nor BU specially produced.   The best must be UNC which might appear brilliant due to the newness of the dies.

There is, of course, the possibility that I have missed BU or Proof in the advertising, hence the request here.

Bill.

 

[andyg]

Bill,
     the packed coins are B.U. - odd that they are not detailed as such on the packaging. The packaging does not say anything much of relevance to this.

Compare the portrait on a normal one and one in a pack.....

The hair detail on the normal piece is sharpen/rougher, the hair detail on the package pieces has a more rounded surface. Another comparison would be the coin surface that makes the background to the high jumper (Athletics).

If in doubt ask Andy.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

I agree with Paul - the Blue Peter coin is far better than what you find in change, just compare it to the 2011 circulation version.  Here are BU and UNC versions side by side (although not the coin we're talking about)

[africancoins]

Well I looked into this a bit more.

I found a scan of a "Coin World" article at...

http://www.govmint.com/london2012/doc/RoyalMintPage22.pdf

(I guess it is from the website of a U.S. based seller.)

Coin World asked the mint about the grade....  to quote the article...

>>>>
These Uncirculated coins are not the same as those that will enter circulation - according to a Royal Mint representative, the coins are struck on a press different from any used for circulation coins. It runs at a lower rate, resulting in a coin that has a finer finish than found on circulating versions yet is not at the "Brilliant Uncirculated" level.
>>>>

This is more or less the same as Bill was told... with more detail.

((I'll guess that there is no extra process for the planchet/blanks between one version and the other of these 50 Pence coins. I'll also guess that they maybe did not have time for their full "B.U." process given the quantities involved - what other excuse have they got.))

So - for fun - you could call these half-B.U. It seems a bit odd that the B.U. coins in the year sets are a quality sort of a half way between that of the circulation coins and that of the proof coins. Yet now we have (from the same mint) coins being of are a quality sort of a half way between that of the circulation coins and that of the B.U. coins.

For the SCWC - it will be possible to find Olympic 50 Pence pieces in B.U. grade (because some, maybe not many, will have got through the process and managed to remain spotless) so there needs to be a price in the UNC column and another in the B.U. column.

If this is confusing - blame the mint.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[UK Decimal +]

Thanks again Paul.

I'm telling KM that there are no Proofs, that is the main thing.   At least we're trying to get the basic info into the 2011 21st Century edition before it goes to press.   I will send George a link to your last message.

Thanks again,

Bill.

[hercy]

i have just checked a presentation pack of the blue peter coins and nowhere does it say circulated or brilliant uncirculated. So i checked RM bulletin 113 and the sales article again just mentions it as "struck in cupro nickel". It would be a bit naughty of the RM to pull a coin intended for circulation out of a bag and sandwich it between i card. I always thought UNC could have minor bag marks as they were intended for circulation and and BUNC was reserved for coins from RM set/packs.

[andyg]

Confirmation about these 50p issues and mintage figures can be found here,
http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/MintageFigures/circulating_coins.aspx

[augsburger]

Doesn't explain how i found cycling of 400,000 and no table tennis of one million, but i guess they will produce more coins, they estimated 3 million of each coin, so expect more to come out this year and next!