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2 Shillings Regular issue, Series B
| Issuer | Government of Gibraltar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The note is printed in green on a salmon-pink underprint with an intricate guilloche border running the full perimeter. The Gibraltar coat of arms appears as a circular vignette at top centre, flanked by laurel sprays and the serial number printed twice in the upper field. Large denomination numerals '2/-' appear in guilloche cartouches at left and right, with the full legal tender text in a combination of bold letterpress and italic script occupying the central panel. The date, Colonial Treasurer title, and manuscript signature appear in the lower portion above a statutory note of issue. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, showing plain paper with show-through of the obverse design. A blind embossed official seal of the Government of Gibraltar is present in the lower centre, legible in mirror image as 'THE COLONIAL SECRETARY GIBRALTAR'. |
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| Comments |
Gibraltar's wartime currency emergency produced a handful of fractional issues that most British colonial administrators considered a stopgap nuisance. The 1914 series was authorised under emergency provisions after the outbreak of WWI disrupted normal coin supplies — silver hoarding hit Gibraltar hard given its position as a major transit port, and small change effectively vanished from circulation within weeks of the war's declaration.
The embossed seal was the primary safeguard, which by later standards looks threadbare, but counterfeiting fractional notes of a fortress colony with limited civilian population was never a serious commercial proposition.