Catalog
1 Pound Regular issue, Series B
| Issuer | Government of Gibraltar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Currency | Pound (1914-1971) |
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| Obverse description | Blue letterpress on a light ground, with the Gibraltar coat of arms — castle above a key on a shield — set within a circular guilloche vignette at the top centre, flanked by foliate sprays. Ornate cartouches bearing large sterling pound symbols occupy the left and right margins, beneath an issuer's title ribbon across the upper centre. The note body carries the full legal tender text in italic script, dated Gibraltar, 6th August, 1914, with the Colonial Treasurer's manuscript signature at lower right and a statutory reference to Ordinance 10 of 1914 along the lower edge. |
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| Obverse lettering | £1 UNA LIBRA THE GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR hereby declares this Note to be of the value of ONE POUND and to be legal tender for that amount, and undertakes to redeem the said note in sterling money for the full face value at a date to be fixed hereafter by His Excellency the Governor. Gibraltar, 6th August, 1914. Colonial Treasurer { N.B. - This note is issued under the provisions of Ordinance 10 of 1914, and is secured by the said Ordinance on the assets and general Revenue of the Colony. |
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| Comments |
Gibraltar's wartime note issues from 1914 are among the least-documented British colonial emergency emissions of the First World War. The Colony of Gibraltar had no standing currency-printing infrastructure of its own; these notes were produced under Treasury authority as a direct response to the hoarding of coin that swept through British territories in the opening weeks of the war.
Pick 8 is genuinely scarce. Most surviving examples show heavy circulation wear — the garrison population was small but the notes worked hard in a port economy that never stopped moving freight and supplies throughout the conflict.