New Pattern One Pound Coins - Bridges

Complete Silver Pattern £1 Coin Set in Box

Millennium Bridge Design on Reverse of 2007 Pattern £1 Coin

Obverse of 2003 £1 Silver Pattern Proof Coins

Menai Strait Bridge Design on Reverse of 2005 Pattern £1 Coin

Egyptian Arch Bridge Design on Reverse of 2006 Pattern £1 Coin

Forth Railway Bridge Design on Reverse of 2004 Pattern £1 Coin

Pattern Coins
Issuing non-legal tender pattern coins is an interesting development from the Royal Mint. There are precedents, in the 18th century Matthew Boulton's famous Soho Works issued a wide variety of pattern coins, many of them primarily for sale to collectors. We suggested to the Royal Mint in January 2003 that a UK pattern euro coin set would be very popular with collectors, but they instantly dismissed our idea. We then made the same suggestion to a private company who proceeded to produce a British euro pattern set which proved very popular with collectors, particularly in the eurozone.

Bridge Designs
We will add our own descriptions and comments later, but for now we may as well quote the press release. According to the Royal Mint:-

A series of four new £1 coin designs, representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is due to be introduced in the United Kingdom from 2004.

In the meantime, the Royal Mint will be issuing limited edition collector sets of the coins in gold and silver later this year. Known as 'pattern pieces' these special 2003-dated coins are produced to familiarise collectors with the new designs. They will not be legal tender.

The new series of reverse designs is required because the existing four-year sequence of £1 coins has come to an end. The designs depict bridges from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The designer is engraver Edwina Ellis, who won a limited competition judged by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee.

The Mint will be issuing sets of the new series of one pound coin designs later this year. The coins in these sets will be struck in gold and silver. The issue limit on the gold set will be 3000. The issue limit on the silver set will be 7500.

The coins in the sets will have on the obverse the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley, approved for use on United Kingdom coins from 1998, and they will be dated 2003.

The coins will have on the reverse bridge designs representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (The Forth Bridge for Scotland, The Menai Straits Bridge for Wales, MacNeill's Egyptian Arch for Northern Ireland and The Millennium Bridge, in Gateshead, for England.) The reverse designs are by wood engraver Edwina Ellis, who won a limited competition judged by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee is an independent body chaired by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling.

The new series of designs was required because the existing four-year sequence of reverse designs came to an end in 2002. It will represent the third series of £1 reverse designs. The first series of "Floral" designs was used between 1984 and 1987 and again between 1989 and 1992. The second series of "Heraldry" designs was used between 1994 and 1997 and was then repeated between 1999 and 2002. During the intervening years, and in 2003, designs representing the whole of the United Kingdom were employed.

The coins in the sets will be referred to as pattern pieces, that is, proposed coins and consequently they will have no status as current or legal tender coins. They will have plain edges and will therefore differ from the legal tender versions of the coins to be issued between 2004 and 2007, which will have a decorative design on the edge.

Precedents exist in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for the Mint issuing pattern pieces. (For example the George V Silver Jubilee Crown of 1935 and a plain edged sovereign of George VI in 1937.)

Dates & Countries
We believe the Royal Mint will probably follow the previously established cycle of countries and dates, in which case they will be:-

Pound Coin Dates & Designs

Date	Country	Design
2003	All 4 as patterns	All 4 as gold and silver patterns
2004	Scotland	Forth Railway Bridge
2005	Wales	Menai Straits Bridge
2006	Northern Ireland	Sir John Macneill's Egyptian Arch
2007	England	Gateshead Millennium Bridge

Technical Specifications

Version	Diameter	Weight	Metal	Alloy	PMW
Silver Proof Patterns	22.50	9.50	Silver	.925	0.2825
Gold Proof Patterns	22.50	19.61	Gold	.9166	.5779
Gold Proof Set of 4	22.50	78.44	Gold	.9166	2.3117

Notes
Diameter = Diameter in millimetres
Weight = Weight in grams
Alloy = Proportion of precious metal
PMW = Actual weight in relevant precious metal content in troy ounces.

Price & Availability

Version	Grade	Issue Limit	Issue Price	Our Price £	Price $
Silver Proof	FDC	7,500	£97.50	£95	$135
Gold Proof	FDC	3,000	£1,125	£1,095*	$1,595*

Notes
* For current pricing on the Gold Proof Version, please visit our Tax Free Gold website.

Postage & Packing:
UK: At buyer's Risk £2.50 or
Fully Insured £6 (Usually by Royal Mail Special Delivery)
USA: Airmail at buyer's risk $10 or
Fully Insured $20
For further details, please see our Postage & Packing page.

Order Form - UK
Order Form - USA
Order Form - EU
Order Form - Rest of World

Silver Proof Pounds & Silver Piedfort Pounds

2003 Coins Index

2003 Coin Sets

If you want to find the value of a coin you own, please take a look at our page I've Found An Old Coin, What's It Worth?

Questions They Ask Us