Essequibo & Demerary 1816 guilder

Stack's Bowers 2021 ANA sale, lot 44347

photo courtesy Stack's Bowers LLC

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 44347 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Costa Mesa, CA, August 2021), where it sold for $720. The catalog description^[1] noted, "ESSEQUIBO & DEMERARY. Guilder, 1816. George III. NGC MS-62. A lovely example of this popular and SCARCE type, with sharp strike, satiny luster, and light toning."

Recorded mintage: 34,000 + proofs.

Specification: 7.77 g, 0.816 fine silver.

Catalog reference: KM-13; Prid-11.

Source:

• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
• Pridmore, F., The Coins of the British Commonwealth of Nations to the end of the Reign of George VI 1952: Part 3, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras and the British West Indies, London: Spink & Son, 1965.
• ^[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.

Link to:

• 1809 half guilder
• 1809 guilder
• 1816 ¼ guilder
• 1816 half guilder
• 1816 2 guilder
• 1816 3 guilder
• 1832 guilder
• 1835 guilder
• Coins and currency dated 1816
• return to coins of Guyana, British Guiana