1/2 Stiver - George III

Demerara and Essequibo, then a British-administered territory on the northeastern coast of South America, suffered chronic small-change shortages throughout the Napoleonic Wars period. London authorized this copper coinage specifically for the colony in 1813 — one of the very few times a dedicated regal issue was struck for what was still a recently acquired Dutch possession, formally ceded to Britain only in 1814 at the Convention of London. The timing is historically awkward: coins bearing George III's authority for a colony Britain did not yet legally own.