2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p with rare lines over the face vari...

Hammer

£1,500

2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p with rare lines over the face variation, graded AU 53 by NGC. Obverse: Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with 'ELIZABETH · II · D · G REG · F · D  · 2011' around. Reverse: swimmer, swimming right with distinct lines over face. '50 PENCE' below and the London 2012 Olympics logo above. Edge: plain. Composition: cupronickel. Weight: 8.00g. Diameter: 27.30mm. Mintage: around 600. Grade: AU 53. Sealed in NGC holder with a standard brown label (#2912510-020).On standard Olympic Aquatics 50p the face of the swimmer is clearly visible under the swimming pool waters. Watery lines appear across the swimmer's goggle-wearing visage in this rare variation. Supposedly, only 600 of these 'lines across the face' Aquatics 50ps were issued before the design was changed, making them the rarest base metal 50p ever issued by The Royal Mint.Though fake Aquatics Fifty Pence pieces with this design variant are known, this example has the benefit of authentication by one of the world's leading coin-grading companies, NGC. At the time of writing this coin was one of just eight appearing in NGC's census.