New Pattern One Pound Coins - Bridges

Menai Strait Bridge Design on Reverse of 2005 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.

Menai Strait Bridge Design
The Menai Strait Bridge will appear on the 2005 pound coin representing Wales. According to the Royal Mint, 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. 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 Mint will be issuing sets of the new series of one pound coin designs later this year (2003). 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. Details can be found on our 2003 Bridge Designs Pattern Pound Coins page.

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 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
2005	Wales	Menai Straits Bridge

Technical Specifications
Ordinary Circulation Issue

Alloy	Nickel-Brass
Copper	70%
Zinc	24.5%
Nickel	5.5%
Diameter	22.5 mm
Weight	9.5 grams

Price & Availability

Version	Grade	Issue Limit	Issue Price	Price £	Price $
Specimen in Folder	Unc		£5.95	£5	$Ask
Silver Proof	FDC	15,000	£27.50	£26.50	$Ask
Silver Piedfort Proof	FDC	7,500	£49.95	£47.50	$Ask
Gold Proof	FDC	3,000	TBA	TBA	$Ask

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

2005 Coins Index

2005 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?

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