2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 Coin
The 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 39.2 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2004
- Circulation mintage
- 39,162,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 worth?
With 39.2 million made, the 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 is common. It has no collector value beyond the pound itself. Since 15 October 2017 the round pound can no longer be spent in shops. Only uncirculated coins from sets, genuine errors and the scarce dates bring more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with crisp edge lettering
- Original Royal Mint pack or set
- A genuine mint error confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 rare?
- No. 39.2 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 coins were made?
- 39,162,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 made of?
- Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel). It weighs 9.5 g and measures 22.5 mm.
- Is the 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 still legal tender?
- No. The round pound stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017. It can no longer be spent in shops; collectors still want the scarce dates.
Why the 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 was made
In 2004 the round pound began a new series celebrating bridges in each nation of the United Kingdom and Scotland's was the Forth Railway Bridge. The great red cantilever bridge carries the railway across the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh. It opened in 1890 and is one of the most famous pieces of Victorian engineering in the world. In 2015 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Choosing it to open the series gave the new designs an instantly recognizable start.
The bridges series was designed by Edwina Ellis and ran from 2004 to 2007, with one bridge for each of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. It also broke with tradition on the edge. Instead of a lettered inscription, every bridges coin has an incuse pattern of bridges and pathways cut into its edge. That makes the Forth Bridge pound the first round pound in circulation without edge lettering, a clean break after twenty-one years of Latin and Welsh mottoes. The Royal Mint struck 39,162,000 for circulation, a moderate figure. The coin carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait and the usual 22.5 mm, 9.5 g nickel-brass specification.
How to recognize it
Edwina Ellis's reverse shows the cantilever spans of the Forth Railway Bridge surrounded by a border of railway tracks. The design is more modern and graphic than the earlier heraldic pounds. Rank-Broadley's tiara portrait of the Queen sits on the obverse, as on every pound from 1998 onward in this run. The edge has no words at all; instead it shows an incuse pattern of bridges and pathways. If you find a Forth Bridge pound with NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT or any other lettering on the edge, it is a counterfeit. The track border is a useful detail to check, since it should be crisp and evenly spaced on a genuine coin.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 ranks 23rd lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 (38.9 million); the next more common is the 1987 Oak Tree £1 (39.3 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 11 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 42 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 2004.
Within the 2004 to 2007 bridges pounds, it ranks 3rd scarcest, behind the Millennium Bridge and Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge.
What to check on your 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1
- Read the edge. Bridges pounds have a patterned edge and no lettering; an edge that doesn't match the design is the quickest sign of a fake.
- Turn the coin over on its vertical axis: on a genuine pound the design side is the same way up as the portrait. A tilted or upside-down reverse points to a copy.
- Weigh it: a genuine round pound weighs 9.5 g. Fakes are often light, soft in detail or a slightly different color.
- Remember that round pounds stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017, so a common one has no use in shops.
With about 39.2 million struck, the 2004 Forth Bridge is a fairly typical round pound in numbers and worn coins are face value. It has extra appeal as the first coin of the bridges series and as the first circulating pound without edge lettering. Unworn examples, especially those from Royal Mint annual sets, attract date collectors. A bridges pound with a lettered edge is a sure sign of a fake, so check the edge before anything else. Then look at the rail border: on a real coin the track lines are crisp and regular, while copies tend to show them uneven or smudged.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2004 |
| Circulation mintage | 39,162,000 |
| Composition | Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel) |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
| Diameter | 22.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | No lettering: an incuse pattern of bridges and pathways |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Frequently asked questions
What is on the edge of the Forth Bridge pound?
No lettering. The 2004 Forth Railway Bridge pound has an incuse pattern of bridges and pathways cut into its edge, as do all the bridges series coins from 2004 to 2007. A Forth Bridge pound with edge lettering is not genuine.
Who designed the bridges pound coins?
Edwina Ellis designed all four bridges series pounds: the Forth Railway Bridge in 2004, the Menai Straits Bridge in 2005, the Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge in 2006 and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in 2007.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.