1 Crown - Elizabeth II Ypres 1915, Silver

The Ypres Salient was one of the most sustained killing grounds of the First World War — British and Commonwealth forces held the bulge in the line around the Belgian city from 1914 almost continuously until 1918, suffering casualties in the hundreds of thousands across three major battles. The 1915 date references the Second Battle of Ypres, the first engagement in which Germany deployed chlorine gas as a weapon on the Western Front, on April 22nd of that year.

Gibraltar's extensive WWI centenary crown series ran across multiple years, with this silver issue among the higher-denomination commemoratives in the program. KM# 1530 places it late in a very long catalog sequence for the issuer.