2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 Coin
The 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 38.9 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2006
- Circulation mintage
- 38,938,000
- 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 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 worth?
With 38.9 million made, the 2006 Egyptian Arch 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 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 rare?
- No. 38.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 coins were made?
- 38,938,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2006 Egyptian Arch 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 2006 Egyptian Arch 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 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 was made
Northern Ireland's bridge, chosen for the 2006 pound, was the Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge near Newry. It carries the main railway line between Belfast and Dublin and takes its name from the Egyptian-style details of its arch. Compared with the Forth Bridge or the Gateshead Millennium Bridge it is a modest structure, but it is a fine example of Victorian railway engineering and an unusual subject for a coin.
The Royal Mint struck 38,938,000 Egyptian Arch pounds for circulation, very close to the 2004 Forth Bridge figure. The coin is the third of Edwina Ellis's four bridges designs, which ran from 2004 to 2007. It replaced the Celtic Cross and Torc that had represented Northern Ireland in 1996 and 2001. Like the rest of the bridges series it has no edge lettering, just an incuse pattern of bridges and pathways. It carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait and the standard round pound specification of 22.5 mm, 9.5 g and nickel-brass. It was withdrawn with the rest of the round pounds on 15 October 2017.
How to recognize it
Ellis's reverse shows the Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge framed by railway station canopy dags, the decorative scalloped edging found on old station canopies. That border gives the coin a distinctive look among the bridges pounds. On the other side is the familiar Rank-Broadley effigy, the Queen shown in a tiara. The edge has the incuse bridges and pathways pattern rather than lettering. A 2006 pound with DECUS ET TUTAMEN or any other edge words is not genuine. Look for clear, evenly spaced dags around the border and a well-defined arch at the center. Because the bridge itself is small within the design, wear tends to show first on the arch and the stonework around it.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 ranks 22nd lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 1991 Flax Plant £1 (38.4 million); the next more common is the 2004 Forth Railway Bridge £1 (39.2 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 2006.
Within the 2004 to 2007 bridges pounds, it ranks 2nd scarcest, behind the Millennium Bridge.
What to check on your 2006 Egyptian Arch 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.
At about 38.9 million, the 2006 Egyptian Arch is an average round pound and circulated coins are face value. Its subject is less familiar than the other bridges, which gives it some appeal for people building a set. Unworn coins from the 2006 Royal Mint sets are the ones collectors keep. Round pound fakes were common by the time of withdrawal, so look closely at the canopy dags and the edge pattern. Copies often show blurred detail or a lettered edge where the pattern should be. A suspect coin that looks a shade too pale or too orange is worth comparing side by side with a genuine pound.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2006 |
| Circulation mintage | 38,938,000 |
| 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
Where is the Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge?
It stands near Newry in Northern Ireland and carries the main railway line between Belfast and Dublin. The bridge takes its name from the Egyptian-style details of its arch and was chosen for Northern Ireland's coin in the 2004 to 2007 bridges series.
What are the dags on the 2006 pound coin?
The dags are the decorative scalloped edging seen on old railway station canopies. Edwina Ellis used a ring of them as the border around the Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge on the 2006 pound, giving the coin a railway theme.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.