Catalog
5 Pounds Emergency issue, Series A
| Issuer | Government of Gibraltar |
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| Year | 1914 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper note of austere wartime emergency design, printed in black letterpress throughout. The serial number appears in the upper left and upper right corners under the series prefix letter. The text body is arranged in a formal declaration style, with the denomination stated both in figures and words, culminating in the manuscript signature of the Colonial Treasurer in the lower right quadrant. A footnote in smaller type at the base references the issuing ordinance. |
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| Reverse description | Completely uniface; the reverse is left blank without any printed design, text, or ornamentation, consistent with the expedient nature of this wartime emergency issue. |
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| Comments |
Gibraltar's 1914 emergency note issues were a direct consequence of the commercial disruption that followed the outbreak of the First World War. With normal banking operations thrown into disorder and coin disappearing from circulation almost immediately — hoarded by a population uncertain about what the war would bring — the Government of Gibraltar stepped in to issue paper currency under emergency authority.
Pick 4 is among the earliest government-issued paper money from Gibraltar, predating any established note-issuing tradition on the Rock. The series designation points to controlled issue batches, though surviving documentation on total print runs for Series A remains sparse.