Roger Bannister 50P

Commemorate Athletic History With the Roger Bannister 50p Coin

In 1954, British athlete Roger Bannister became the first runner to complete a mile in under four minutes. In 2004, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this feat, the Royal Mint released a 50p coin with a design celebrating Bannister's record-setting race. Whether you're looking to complete your collection or just own a small piece of sporting history, you can find Roger Bannister 50p listings on eBay.

Like most 50p coins, the 2004 running 50p has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley on the obverse. The reverse shows a composite image celebrating Roger Bannister's achievement. This image includes:

• Running legs: The runner's legs and lower body convey a sense of speed and energy.
• Stopwatch: The stopwatch in the background represents Bannister's record-breaking time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.
• 50 Pence: The reverse displays the value of the coin, with an oversized 50 that also represents the 50 years since Bannister's race.
• JB: Just behind the runner's forward foot is a small "JB" monogram, indicating the name of the artist, James Butler.

The Roger Bannister 2004 50p coin is a relatively common design. Over 9,000,000 of these coins were released into general circulation by the Royal Mint. This is typical for a design in general circulation. By contrast, very rare 50p coins often have circulations less than a third of this amount; the very rarest have fewer than a million examples in circulation. This high mintage means that the running 50p isn't usually difficult to find.

Because the Roger Bannister coin is relatively common, it is not one of the more valuable 50p coin designs. Examples in good condition can be valuable to collectors trying to complete a set of 50p coins or 2004 issues. A Roger Bannister 50p's price can vary, but they tend to be relatively close to the coin's original face value.

Not all Roger Bannister 50p coins come from the 2004 issue. In 2019, the Royal Mint reissued some of its most popular 50p coin designs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 50p coin, originally released in 1969. However, the Roger Bannister designs released as part of this reissue never entered general circulation. They were released only as part of commemorative sets.