Essequibo & Demerary 1809 1/4 guilder
The Essequibo and Demerary were originally two of three Dutch colonies along the coast of present-day Guyana. They were seized by the British to avoid having them fall into French hands after the French invasion of the Netherlands. They remained in British control through the 1830's, at which point the Netherlands and Great Britain formally divided the region between them, the British taking over the western portion. This mixed colonial origin shows in the coinage: though the portrait of the British monarch is honored on the obverse, the denominations are clearly Dutch. This specimen was lot 44348 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Costa Mesa, CA, August 2021), where it sold for $180. The catalog description[1] noted, "ESSEQUIBO & DEMERARY. 1/4 Guilder, 1809. George III. NGC AU-55. A decently struck and wholesome coin, with strong gray to almond toning on both sides."
Recorded mintage: 124,000.
Specification: 1.94 g, 0.816 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-4.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The August 2021 ANA sale: World and Ancient Coins, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.
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