Gibraltar's decision to feature Horatio Nelson on this note was not arbitrary local colour. Nelson's body was brought to Gibraltar aboard HMS Victory in October 1805 following Trafalgar, where it lay in state before the long return to England — the Rock's connection to the battle is direct and well-documented. The Garrison Library in Gibraltar still holds contemporary accounts of the stop.
De La Rue produced this series across an eleven-year window, unusually long for a denomination of this value. The watermark remains the sole security feature, which by the mid-1990s was already considered thin for a twenty-pound issue.
Gibraltar's decision to feature Horatio Nelson on this note was not arbitrary local colour. Nelson's body was brought to Gibraltar aboard HMS Victory in October 1805 following Trafalgar, where it lay in state before the long return to England — the Rock's connection to the battle is direct and well-documented. The Garrison Library in Gibraltar still holds contemporary accounts of the stop.
De La Rue produced this series across an eleven-year window, unusually long for a denomination of this value. The watermark remains the sole security feature, which by the mid-1990s was already considered thin for a twenty-pound issue.