Catalog
10 Shillings Emergency issue, Series A
| Issuer | Government of Gibraltar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gibraltar, 6th August, 1914. 10/- (Diez Chelines.) The Government of Gibraltar hereby declares this Note to be of the value of TEN SHILLINGS 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. 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. |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, without any printed design, lettering, or ornamentation. |
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| Comments |
Gibraltar's 1914 emergency currency came out of the same administrative scramble that hit British territories worldwide at the outbreak of war — the sudden hoarding and disappearance of coin from circulation forced colonial governments to produce paper substitutes almost overnight. The Gibraltar issue was authorized under emergency powers with minimal preparation time, which shows in the Series A designation: this was a first-run stopgap, not a planned addition to a mature currency system.
Surviving examples are genuinely rare. The wartime conditions under which these notes circulated — a busy naval garrison, constant troop movement, and no particular incentive to preserve low-denomination paper — were not kind to the physical material.