A bridge that UNESCO calls the world’s earliest great multi-span cantilever bridge appeared on the British pound in 2004. The Forth Bridge opened the bridges series, in which each part of the United Kingdom is represented by its own bridge.

The reverse designer Edwina Ellis set the bridge inside a border of railway tracks, making it clear at once that this is a railway bridge. The edge is unusual too: instead of the familiar Latin inscription it carries a decorative pattern symbolising bridges and pathways. The obverse shows Ian Rank-Broadley’s portrait of Elizabeth II with the legend ELIZABETH II D G REG F D and the initials IRB.

The Forth Bridge spans the estuary of the River Forth in eastern Scotland, linking Edinburgh with Fife. Construction began in 1883 and the bridge opened in 1890. It is 2,529 metres long; some 54,000 tonnes of steel went into its three double-cantilever towers, and the spans between them remained the longest in the world for 28 years. Since 2015 the bridge has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Royal Mint conceived the Ellis series as a tribute to British engineering: in all, four bridges appeared on round pounds, the third series of reverses after the Royal Arms of 1983 and the heraldic emblems. The 2004 mintage was 39,162,000. Since 15 October 2017 the round pound, introduced in 1983 to replace the note, has no longer been legal tender, so the bridges series is complete and the Forth Bridge is its first coin. It was followed by bridges from Wales, Northern Ireland and England, one for each part of the country.

For a collection of British pounds by series or a thematic selection on architecture and railways, this is a coin with a recognisable subject and a clear story. The F-VF grade describes a circulated coin: wear ranges from even, pronounced wear (F) to noticeable wear on the high points of the relief (VF); the outline of the bridge, the legends and the portrait remain legible.

Coins from the VPcoins catalogue are collected by seasoned numismatists and newcomers alike.