1 Joe of 22 Guilders

The "Joe" — short for Johannes, referring to the Portuguese gold coin the Johannes — was used as a unit of account in British Guiana long after actual Portuguese gold had left circulation. This note, denominated in Joes but valued at 22 Guilders, reflects the layered monetary inheritance of Demerara and Essequibo: Dutch colonial foundations, a Portuguese trade-coin reference, and British administrative authority all compressed into a single face value.

The Court of Policy was the colony's governing legislative body, not a financial institution — an unusual issuing authority for paper currency, born of necessity in a frontier plantation economy chronically short of hard coin.