The real was the official currency of Gibraltar until 1825 and continued to circulate alongside other Spanish and British currencies until 1898.
The real was the official currency of Gibraltar until 1825 and continued to circulate alongside other Spanish and British currencies until 1898.
After the Anglo-Dutch occupied Gibraltar in 1704, the Spanish real continued to circulate in the town. However, no distinction was made between the silver (de plata) and billon (de vellón) reales issued by the Spanish (1 real de plata = 2 reales de vellón before 1737, 2½ after), providing a substantial profit for the army officers making payments to troops.
In 1741, the following rates of exchange were established: 2 blancas = 1 maravedi, 4 maravedíes = 1 quarto or quart, 16 quartos = 1 real de vellón, 8 reales de vellón = 1 peso sencillo ("current" dollar), 10 reales de vellón = 1 peso fuerte ("hard" dollar, also known as the Spanish dollar ). These roughly doubled the value of the real de vellón relative to its value in Spain. Much of the currency in circulation was in the form of copper coins, since the low value of silver coins relative to billon lead to most silver being exported from Gibraltar to Spain. Copper merchants' tokens denominated in quarts were issued between 1802 and 1820.
In 1825, the relative values of the various circulating coins were revised and pegged to the British pound. The real de plata was subdivided into 24 quarts, valuing the real de plata at 96 maravedíes compared to 85 in Spain. The Spanish dollar was valued at 4 shillings and 4 pence and British silver coins were imported. However, because this rating of the dollar was too high, British silver coins could not circulate, although British coppers did, with an informal valuation of 1 quart = 1 farthing (actually 1 quart = 11⁄12 farthings). This discrepancy was also exploited to the profit of army officers making payments to troops.
In 1842, coins were issued in ½, 1 and 2 quarts denominations. A total of 387,072 quarts worth of coins were issued (equal to 2016 dollars or £436 16s), allowing soldiers wages to be paid in quarts rather than pence. Other coins continued to circulate, however, until 1872. In that year, the Spanish currency became the sole legal tender in Gibraltar. [1] In 1898, the Spanish–American War made the Spanish peseta drop alarmingly and on October 1 of that year, the pound was introduced as the sole currency of Gibraltar, initially in the form of British coins and banknotes. [2]
Traders' currency tokens were issued in Gibraltar between 1802 and 1820 by Robert Keeling, Richard Cattons, and James Spittles. There were two denominations - 1 quart (or quarto) and 2 quarts (or 2 quartos).
| KM | Year | Denomination | Obverse | Reverse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tn 1 | 1802 | 1 quarto | View of The Rock from The Bay and 'Payable at R Keeling's Gibralter' [ sic ] | Castle and Key |
| Tn 2.1 | 1802 | 2 quartos | View of The Rock from The Bay and 'Payable at R Keeling's Gibralter' [ sic ] | Castle and Key |
| Tn 3.2 | 1810 [small date] | 1 quarto | Lion and key and 'Payable at Robert Keeling & Sons Gibraltar' | Castle |
| Tn 4.2 | 1810 [small date] | 2 quartos | Lion and key and 'Payable at Robert Keeling & Sons Gibraltar' | Castle |
| Tn 3.1 | 1810 [large date] | 1 quarto | Lion and key and 'Payable at Robert Keeling & Sons Gibraltar' | Castle |
| Tn 4.1 | 1810 [large date] | 2 quartos | Lion and key and 'Payable at Robert Keeling & Sons Gibraltar' | Castle |
| KM | Year | Denomination | Obverse | Reverse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tn 5 | 1813 | 1 quarto | Lion and key and 'Payable at Richard Cattons Goldsmith' | Crown and Wreath |
| Tn 6 | 1813 | 2 quartos | Lion and key and 'Payable at Richard Cattons Goldsmith' | Crown and Wreath and Agente para la fabrica de diamantes patentes de Duddell Holborn Londres (Agents for the production of patent diamonds of Duddell Holborn (London)) |
| KM | Year | Denomination | Obverse | Reverse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tn 7 | 1818 | 2 quartos | Lion and key and 'Payable at James Spittles' | Moorish Castle |
| 1820 | 1 quarto | Lion and key and 'Payable at James Spittles' | Moorish Castle | |
| Tn 9 | 1820 | 2 quartos | Lion and key and 'Payable at James Spittles' | Moorish Castle |
| Year | Denomination | Obverse | Reverse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1842 | ½, 1 and 2 quarts | Queen Victoria and 'Victoria D:G: Britanniar: Regina F:D: 1842' | Castle and Key. 'Gibraltar' above, denomination below |
Note that proofs of these coins were also issued in 1860 and 1861.
The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories is denominated in pennies and pounds sterling, and ranges in value from one penny sterling to two pounds. Since decimalisation, on 15 February 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 (new) pence. Before decimalisation, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound.
The peseta was the currency of Spain between 1868 and 2002. Along with the French franc, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra.
The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. Its symbol is defined as a letter S with either one or two vertical bars superimposed prefixing the amount, $ or ; the single-bar symbol, available in most modern text systems, is almost always used. Both of these symbols are used by many currencies, most notably the United States dollar, and may be ambiguous without clarification, such as CLP$ or US$. The ISO 4217 code for the present peso is CLP. It was divided into 100 centavos until 31 May 1996, when the subdivision was formally eliminated. In February 2023, the exchange rate was around CLP$800 to US$1.
The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word peso translates to "weight". In most countries of the Americas, the symbol commonly known as dollar sign, "$", was originally used as an abbreviation of "pesos" and later adopted by the dollar. The dollar itself actually originated from the peso or Spanish dollar in the late 18th century. The sign "₱" is used in the Philippines.
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word "pound" is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. In British English, its most common nickname is "quid".
The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight, is a silver coin of approximately 38 mm (1.5 in) diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content 25.563 g (0.8219 ozt) fine silver. It was widely used as the first international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. Some countries countermarked the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency.
The pound was the currency of Scotland prior to the 1707 Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was introduced by David I, in the 12th century, on the Carolingian monetary system of a pound divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. The Scottish currency was later devalued relative to sterling by debasement of its coinage. By the time of James III, one pound Scots was valued at five shillings sterling.
The pound is the currency of Gibraltar. It is pegged to – and exchangeable with – sterling at par value. Coins and banknotes of the Gibraltar pound are issued by the Government of Gibraltar.
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The pound was the official currency of Jamaica between 1840 and 1969. It circulated as a mixture of sterling coinage and locally issued coins and banknotes and was always equal to the pound sterling. The Jamaican pound was also used in the Cayman and Turks and Caicos Islands.
The silver real was the currency of the Spanish colonies in America and the Philippines. In the seventeenth century the silver real was established at two billon reals or sixty-eight maravedís. Gold escudos were also issued. The coins circulated throughout Spain's colonies and beyond, with the eight-real piece, known in English as the Spanish dollar, becoming an international standard and spawning, among other currencies, the United States dollar. A reform in 1737 set the silver real at two and half billon reals or eighty-five maravedís. This coin, called the real de plata fuerte, became the new standard, issued as coins until the early 19th century. The gold escudo was worth 16 reales de plata fuerte.
The livre was the currency of New France, the French colony in modern-day Canada. It was subdivided into 20 sols, each of 12 deniers. The New France livre was a French colonial currency, distinguished by the use of paper money.
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This article provides a historical summary of the currency used in Ecuador. The present currency of Ecuador is the United States dollar.
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