3-077-767 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Silver key used by the Prince of Wales in finishing the Forth Bridge, 1890. 'His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, on Tuesday, March 4, performed the ceremonies of fixing the last rivet of this immense and ingenious structure, and formally opening the bridge for ordinary railway traffic...The hydraulic riveting-machine by which, using the silver key to set it working, the Prince of Wales drove in the last rivet is one of the inventions of Sir William Arrol, the contractor...The gilded rivet having been placed in the bolthole, and the silver key having been handed to his Royal Highness by Lord Tweeddale, the Prince, with Mr. Arrol's assistance, finished the work in a few seconds, amid cheers. [On the key was inscribed:] With this key on the 4th day of March 1890 His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales fixed the last rivet in the Forth Bridge'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.