Historical Sketch

England conquered Gibraltar during the Spanish War of Succession in 1704, which Spain recognized in the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. Since 1830, it constitutes a separate crown colony and has obtained limited internal autonomy in 1969.

Monetary History Overview

England conquered Gibraltar during the Spanish War of Succession in 1704, the colonial status began in 1830. In 1825, the British Pound Sterling was made unit of account. The circulating coins were, however, almost exclusively Spanish, Latin American coinage was demonetized in 1845. Small change was scarce in the 19th century such that local merchants issued copper tokens as substitutes. In mid-1842, also the governor issued a set of copper tokens which despite appearance did not have proper legal base but were readily accepted. The local businessmen, being dissatisfied with the Sterling accounting, pressured the local government to align with neighbouring Spain as the main trading partner. In 1872, a British order in council decreed that accounts were to be kept in the Gibraltar Doubloon. It corresponded to the Spanish 100 Real in gold, referred to in the legal text as "Doblón d'Isabel". At the time of legislation, the Spanish gold coin had already been outmoded and was gradually disappearing from circulation. Therefore, in 1881, another British order in council revised the unit of account to the Spanish 25 Pesetas in gold, referred to as "Alfonsino", which was about 3.5% lighter. In October 1898 finally, the Spanish accounting was abolished, and the Gibraltar Pound became sole legal tender, identical to the British Pound Sterling, although Spanish money was tolerated in payments until the Spanish civil war. In 1914, the colonial government appointed a Commissioner of Currency who started to issue paper money. In February 1971, at the same time than in Great Britain, the subunit went decimal such that 100 New Pence went to the Pound instead of 240, a counting that dated back to ancient times. In 1990, Gibraltar has started issuing local supplementary coins that have since then displaced the British ones.

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