Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 (2006)
The Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 of 2006 stands for Northern Ireland among the four bridges round pounds, showing the railway bridge at Newry inside a border of station canopy dags. It is looked up by people sorting old round pounds and by collectors finishing the bridges set. It is the third of the four bridge £1 coins and one of the 28 £1 designs struck since 1983.
Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 value
- Circulated
- typical £2.10, range £2 to £2.90
- Uncirculated
- typical £14, range £6 to £29
Worked out from 9 published prices (5 sold-price reports and 4 dealer prices), each condition from its own prices, checked in September 2026.
Rarity rank 12 of 26 ranked £1 designs, rarest first
Rarity: CommonWhat an Egyptian Arch pound fetches depends mostly on its grade. Coins that spent years in change are usually worn on the arch and the rim, and they fetch the least. A coin from the Royal Mint's 2006 brilliant uncirculated pack is worth more than one that went through tills. Because round pounds can no longer be spent, every sale is to a collector, and a fake has no collector value, so buyers check the edge and the crispness of the dags first.
Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 mintage and rarity
With 38,938,000 struck for circulation, the Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 is the twelfth rarest of the 26 ranked £1 designs and has the 158th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.
The next rarer £1 is the Lion Rampant £1, with 29,752,525 struck, and the next more common is the Forth Railway Bridge £1, with 39,162,000 struck.
| Year | Circulation mintage | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 38,938,000 |
How to spot an Egyptian Arch Bridge £1
Find the Egyptian Arch inside a border of the decorative canopy edging known as dags, with ONE POUND at the foot of the coin. The date is on the other side, around the Queen's fourth portrait, and should read 2006. Run a fingernail round the edge: a genuine coin has a pressed pattern there, not lettering, and no mint mark. Fakes of round pounds are often let down by soft, blurred detail in the design or badly formed edge work.
Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 design
For the third of the round pound bridges, in 2006, Edwina Ellis turned to Northern Ireland and the Egyptian Arch at Newry. The arch carries a railway, and it takes its name from its likeness to the headdress worn by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Ellis framed the bridge with a border of dags, the decorative edging that hangs from railway station canopies, which keeps the whole design on its railway theme. The denomination, ONE POUND, runs along the bottom beneath the bridge. The reverse carries no date; look for 2006 on the heads side, which has the fourth portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley. The series marked a change for the round pound's edge. Earlier coins carried an edge inscription and a tiny cross crosslet standing for the Royal Mint at Llantrisant, while the bridges coins have a pattern representing bridges and pathways and no mint mark at all. The Egyptian Arch was followed in 2007 by England's Gateshead Millennium Bridge, which closed the series.
In the bridge set it followed the Menai Bridge £1 of 2005 and came before the Millennium Bridge £1 of 2007.
Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 specifications
- Denomination
- £1
- Year
- 2006
- Type
- Definitive
- Issue
- Issued for circulation
- Series
- Bridges (2004 to 2007)
- Occasion
- Northern Ireland's design in the round £1 bridges series, one bridge for each nation of the United Kingdom
- Designer
- Edwina Ellis
- Composition
- Nickel-brass
- Weight
- 9.5 g
- Diameter
- 22.5 mm
- Shape
- Round
- Edge
- Milled, with an incuse decorative pattern symbolising bridges and pathways; no edge inscription and no mint mark
- Obverse
- Elizabeth II, fourth portrait by Ian Rank-Broadley
Egyptian Arch Bridge £1 questions
What is the Egyptian Arch on the £1 coin?
It is a railway bridge at Newry in Northern Ireland, named for its resemblance to an ancient Egyptian pharaoh's headdress. It represented Northern Ireland in the round pound bridges series in 2006.
Is the 2006 Egyptian Arch £1 rare?
No. It was issued for circulation in large numbers, with a mintage close to that of the Forth Railway Bridge coin two years earlier.
What are the dags around the Egyptian Arch £1?
Dags are the decorative edging along the bottom of railway station canopies. Each bridges coin has its own border, and this one is what sets the Egyptian Arch apart from the other three.