Medals are a form of "exonumia" - objects related to coinage but not coins themselves. Such are, for example, the medals included in many Royal Mint proof sets. They do not have any "face value" and are not tokens either, but can still be of interest to coin collectors.
In 2011, the Royal Mint released 29 circulating commemorative coins to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic Games, representing the various sports: Aquatics, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boccia, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Goalball, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wheelchair Rugby and Wrestling.
These were released into circulation, and each coin was also distributed for collectors in a card, with the cards fitting into a (separately sold) collector album with 30 slots. This "completer medallion" was distributed in a similarly styled card in order to fit into that slot and complete the collection. There is also another album meant for coins to be inserted in it (not in cards), in which a separate space was left for this medallion too. |