2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 Coin
The 2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 99.4 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2005
- Circulation mintage
- 99,429,500
- 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 2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 worth?
With 99.4 million made, the 2005 Menai Straits 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 2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 rare?
- No. 99.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 coins were made?
- 99,429,500 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2005 Menai Straits 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 2005 Menai Straits 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 2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 was made
Wales took its turn in the bridges series in 2005 with the Menai Suspension Bridge. Designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 1826, it crosses the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the Welsh mainland. When it was built it was one of the earliest large suspension bridges in the world and it still carries road traffic today. It links two parts of Wales that had previously been connected only by ferry.
The 2005 coin was struck in very large numbers: 99,429,500 for circulation. That makes it by far the most common of the four bridges pounds and the sixth highest mintage among round pounds from 1983 to 2007. It is part of Edwina Ellis's bridges series, which ran from 2004 to 2007. Like the other bridges pounds, it has no edge lettering. The Welsh motto that had appeared on every earlier Welsh pound was replaced by an incuse pattern of bridges and pathways. The obverse shows Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait and the coin matches every other round pound at 22.5 mm, 9.5 g and nickel-brass.
How to recognize it
Ellis's reverse shows the Menai Suspension Bridge, with its towers and hanging chains, surrounded by a border of railings and stanchions. The Queen appears on the obverse in Rank-Broadley's effigy, wearing a tiara. On the edge you will find no words, just the incuse pattern shared by every bridges pound. A Menai Bridge pound with PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD on its edge is not genuine, since that Welsh inscription was not used in this series. The railing border is a distinctive feature and on a well-preserved coin each stanchion should be clean and separate rather than run together. Worn coins lose the fine chain detail first, but the two towers usually remain clear.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 ranks 35th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 1990 Leek £1 (97.3 million); the next more common is the 2000 Dragon £1 (109.5 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 4.5 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 106 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 2005.
Within the 2004 to 2007 bridges pounds, it ranks 4th scarcest, behind the Millennium Bridge, Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge and Forth Railway Bridge.
What to check on your 2005 Menai Straits 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 close to 99.4 million made, the 2005 Menai Bridge is a very common date and circulated coins carry only face value. Unworn examples from Royal Mint sets have bright fields and sharp detail on the suspension chains, but even those are easy to find. Given the number of fakes in circulation before withdrawal, any bridges pound with lettering on its edge, a blurred border or an off color should be treated with suspicion. Comparing with a known genuine coin is the simplest check. Weight is another quick test, since a real round pound should be very close to 9.5 g.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2005 |
| Circulation mintage | 99,429,500 |
| 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
Is the 2005 Menai Bridge £1 coin rare?
No. The Royal Mint struck 99,429,500 for circulation, the highest of the four bridges pounds. Worn examples are face value and even unworn coins from Royal Mint sets are plentiful enough that they are not considered rarities.
Does the Menai Bridge pound have edge lettering?
No. Like all four bridges series pounds, the 2005 Menai Straits Bridge coin has an incuse pattern of bridges and pathways on its edge instead of words. The Welsh inscription used on earlier Welsh pounds does not appear.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.