Catalog
1/2 Guilder - William IV
| Issuer | Demerara and Essequibo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1832-1835 |
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| Currency | Guilder ( -1839) |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed effigy of King William IV facing right, modeled in high relief with naturalistic rendering of the hair. The truncation of the bust is plain and unadorned. The circular legend surrounds the portrait within a beaded border, identifying the monarch in abbreviated Latin. The portrait is engraved in the neoclassical style characteristic of William Wyon's work for the Royal Mint. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Demerara and Essequibo had functioned under a patchwork of Dutch colonial monetary conventions long after British forces took permanent possession following the Napoleonic Wars. The guilder-denominated coinage issued under William IV was a deliberate accommodation to that legacy — local commerce still operated in Dutch units, and the Crown chose to meet it rather than force an immediate transition to sterling. This series was struck at the Royal Mint, London, and had a short production window that closed when the colony was formally merged into British Guiana in 1831, with coinage running into the transition years as existing authority was wound down.