Catalog
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
| Issuer | Demerara and Essequibo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1816 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 23.32 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | 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 script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | UNITED COLONY OF DEMERARY & ESSEQUIBO 3 1816 |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Royal Mint, London |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Demerara and Essequibo — two adjacent Dutch colonies on the Guiana coast — had been seized by Britain in 1796, returned, and seized again in 1803, with formal cession only confirmed by the Congress of Vienna in 1814. This coin was struck just two years after that settlement, before the colonies were administratively merged into British Guiana in 1831. The chronic shortage of specie in the Caribbean made locally denominated silver an urgent practical necessity rather than a political gesture.
The guilder denomination persisted deliberately, reflecting the existing monetary habits of a Dutch-speaking planter class that Britain had no interest in alienating.