The Royal Mint is launching a new coin to commemorate Team GB's participation at Tokyo 2020 ©Royal Mint

Britain's Royal Mint is launching a new coin to commemorate Team GB's participation at this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo, they have announced.

The Tokyo 50 pence ($0.66/€0.59) will feature the Team GB lion, the Olympic rings and sports including basketball, cycling, equestrian, football and sailing. 

The coin is not planned to be put into general circulation and will only be available to collectors as part of a special commemorative set costing £55 ($72/€65).

Precious metal sets, featuring silver and gold proof versions, will also be for sale at a price still to be announced.

The other coins in the set depict the 75th anniversary of VE Day on May 8 and the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower from Plymouth to Provincetown.

It will also have a £2 ($2.60/€2.40) coin for the centenary of Agatha Christie's first novel, and a £5 ($6.60/€5.90) coin for the 200th anniversary of the end of the reign of George III.

The Royal Mint produced a total of 29 special coins to commemorate London 2012, although some sports are more valuable than others due to the amount that were produced ©Royal Mint
The Royal Mint produced a total of 29 special coins to commemorate London 2012, although some sports are more valuable than others due to the amount that were produced ©Royal Mint

In the run-up to the 2012 Olympics in London the Royal Mint, whose history stretches back more than 1,100 years to its formation in 886 AD, created 29 different 50p coins and released them into circulation.

Each one commemorated a different event.

But the Royal Mint did not create the same number of coins for each design with twice the number of 50p coins depicting archery created as those which displayed wrestling, for example.

This means several of the coins are highly collectable.

The rarest of all the 29 designs is the football 50p, with a design featuring an explanation of the offside law, with less than a million being minted.

That has been sold for as much as £22 ($29/€26) on the resale site eBay.

The coin featuring triathlon, including a male silhouette of someone swimming, cycling and running, is also sought after by collectors.

A rare version of the swimming 50p coin - on the left - produced by the Royal Mint is highly sought after by collectors and last year one sold at auction for £590 ©Royal Mint
A rare version of the swimming 50p coin - on the left - produced by the Royal Mint is highly sought after by collectors and last year one sold at auction for £590 ©Royal Mint

Other 50p coins that are highly valued is the one produced for judo.

The most sought after 50p coin, however, is a special one minted for swimming.

The aquatics 50p, featuring someone in a swimming cap, was minted more than two million times, but there is an alternative design that was scrapped before the 29 coins were produced en masse.

It depicts a swimmer underwater, with the water lines over their face, as opposed to the one that went into circulation which shows the swimmer's head clear of the water lines.

Last summer, one sold for £590 ($775/€695) after a 10-day auction with 47 bids.