«The full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar… for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever»: with these words Spain ceded Gibraltar to Great Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. For the treaty’s 300th anniversary Gibraltar issued a commemorative coin with a face value of 3 pounds, a denomination absent from its circulating range.

The negotiations took place in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713 and settled the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Savoy and the Dutch Republic were at the table, and Gibraltar, taken by the allied fleet back in 1704, passed to the British Crown by treaty.

The reverse shows a map of Western Europe with the treaty document itself on the right; the obverse carries a portrait of Elizabeth II. The coin is struck in alpaca, a nickel silver alloy of copper, zinc and nickel that looks like silver but contains no precious metal.

It is a coin about the document on which Gibraltar’s British status still rests, and it sits naturally beside issues on the capture of 1704 in a collection on the territory’s history. UNC grade: never circulated, no wear, mint lustre preserved.

Collecting a date run? Look for the neighbouring years of this type in the VPcoins catalogue.