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10 Stuivers Dutch Guiana - Playing Card Money
| Issuer | Dutch Guiana Administration |
|---|---|
| Year | 1808 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Guilder (16th century-1817) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 10 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Circular embossed dry seal impressed into the card surface; manuscript signature of the issuing official applied by hand as authentication. |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
When the British blockaded Dutch Guiana during the Napoleonic Wars, the colony's administration faced an acute coin shortage with no practical means of remedy. The solution — cutting playing cards into quarters and overprinting them as fractional currency — was neither new nor unique to Suriname, but the 1808 series is among the better-documented examples of the practice in the Caribbean. The cards were already in the colony; the administration simply requisitioned them.
Schelkes's signature and the embossed seal were the only meaningful fraud deterrents. The playing card substrate itself varied depending on what was available, which is why surviving pieces differ noticeably in card weight and printing quality.