Forth Railway Bridge £1 (2004)
The Forth Railway Bridge £1 of 2004 opened the round pound bridges series for Scotland, with the famous bridge framed by a border of railway track. Collectors look it up to complete the set of four bridges and to see what this old round pound is worth now it has been withdrawn. It is the first of the four bridge £1 coins and one of the 28 £1 designs struck since 1983.
Forth Railway Bridge £1 value
- Circulated
- typical £2.60, range £2.20 to £4.70
- Uncirculated
- typical £20, range £19 to £45
Worked out from 11 published prices (6 dealer prices and 5 sold-price reports), each condition from its own prices, checked in September 2026.
Rarity rank 13 of 26 ranked £1 designs, rarest first
Rarity: CommonCondition does most of the work. A Forth Bridge pound that spent years in change, with the track border and rim worn flat, sits at the bottom of the range, while a crisp coin with clean detail sells higher. The brilliant uncirculated version, sold in a Royal Mint presentation pack in 2004, is valued above anything from circulation. Fake round pounds were common before the coin was withdrawn, so buyers check the patterned edge and the sharpness of the design before paying a premium.
Forth Railway Bridge £1 mintage and rarity
With 39,162,000 struck for circulation, the Forth Railway Bridge £1 is the thirteenth rarest of the 26 ranked £1 designs and has the 159th 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 Egyptian Arch Bridge £1, with 38,938,000 struck, and the next more common is the Flax Plant £1, with 48,853,076 struck.
| Year | Circulation mintage | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 39,162,000 |
How to spot a Forth Railway Bridge £1
Look for the Forth Railway Bridge inside a ring of railway track, with ONE POUND beneath it and no date on that side. Turn the coin over to find 2004 in the legend around the Queen's fourth portrait. The edge is the quickest check: a bridges pound has a pattern pressed into it instead of words, and there is no cross crosslet mint mark. Pattern pieces of this design dated 2003, with plain edges, were sold only in precious-metal sets and are a different coin.
Forth Railway Bridge £1 design
From 2004 to 2007 the round pound carried a bridge from each nation of the United Kingdom, and Scotland came first with the Forth Railway Bridge. This cantilever bridge crosses the Firth of Forth to link Edinburgh with Fife. Work on it began in the 1880s, and it was the first major structure in Britain to be built of steel. Edwina Ellis designed all four coins in the series. On this one the bridge sits inside a border of railway lines that runs right round the design, and ONE POUND is set along the bottom. As on every round pound, the year sits on the heads side, where Ian Rank-Broadley's fourth portrait appears. The bridges coins also broke with custom on the edge: in place of lettering and the cross crosslet mint mark, they carry an incuse decorative pattern meant to suggest bridges and pathways.
The bridge set began with it, and the Menai Bridge £1 followed in 2005.
Forth Railway Bridge £1 specifications
- Denomination
- £1
- Year
- 2004
- Type
- Definitive
- Issue
- Issued for circulation
- Series
- Bridges (2004 to 2007)
- Occasion
- Scotland'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
Forth Railway Bridge £1 questions
Is the Forth Railway Bridge £1 rare?
No. The 2004 issue for circulation was a big one, and among the four bridges coins only the Menai Bridge pound had a larger mintage.
Who designed the Forth Railway Bridge £1?
Edwina Ellis, who designed all four bridges pounds issued from 2004 to 2007. The Queen's portrait on the heads side is Ian Rank-Broadley's work.
Can I still spend a Forth Bridge pound coin?
No. Shops stopped having to take round pounds on 15 October 2017, the date they were withdrawn in favour of the 12-sided design. After that, the old coins could only be paid in at banks.