World coins chat: Guyana and Demerara & Essequibo

Initially part of Dutch Guiana, the British assumed control of the area now known as Guyana in 1796, and it was formally ceded to Britain in 1814. The British initially named the colony Demerara & Essequibo, and changed the name to British Guyana in 1834. In 1966, Guyana became an independent republic.

The British first kept the Guilder in place for the colony of Demerara & Essequibo, but debased it from 1s8d, which was the value of a Dutch Guilder, to 1s4d. Coins were issued in Stivers (1/20 Guilder) and Guilders with the British monarch on them. In 1831 these were replaced by British coinage.

Due to the popularity of the 1/4 Guilder coin, being worth 4 pence, the Guyana colony requested to continue producing the Groat as the 4d coin was known, despite being phased out in Britain. This is why from the end of the 19th century until the 1940's, British Guyanese coins of 4 pence were produced.

In 1966 Guyana became independent and in 1967 new coins were introduced in Dollars at a rate of $4.80 to £1. Quite large inflation made these worthless over time and in 1996 a new series of 1, 5 and 10 Dollars was issued. Current exchange rate is around 220 Guyanese to the US Dollar.

Essequibo & Demerara
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/essequebo-demarary-1.html

(British) Guyana:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/guyana-1.html

Forgot to mention the claims by Venezuela over the West side of the territory as they claim it belonged to the "Gran Colombia" territory and since they got the East part of it then D&E West side of the river is historically part of Venezuela (which is), but the Brits took it so it is now separated. Sort like the Malvinas (Falkland) with Argentina's main claim saying "they belong to us because they are closer to Argentina than to England"  

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces19568.html

I have one of these. But as I said before, this coin was common with the British West Indies, before adopting the BWI$.

I have a single coin from D&E, with an NRI of 61; so it is somewhat rare:

1 Stiver - George III

And three common ones from Guyana, all with a NRI lower than 12; pretty common:

1 Cent
10 Cents
25 Cents

Quite nice

PS: my silver 4-pence is NRI 88  

Here is a nice 1813 half stiver which I won in January 2023:

 

 

Now both @erdvilla and @chomp-master mention the Numista Rarity Index (NRI). To show you that it actually means little, here were the rarity index of the 2 coins in 2015 and now:

 

• 1 stiver 1813 NRI 2015 = 61; 2025 = 20 
• 4 pence 1903–1910 NRI 2015 = 88; 2025 = 49 

 

EDIT — 

The 1888 four pence is listed under the United Kingdom, but it should be listed under British Guyana or the British West Indies as it was intended first and foremost for British Guyana (and possibly some BWI communities) but it was not intended for the UK and never circulated there. By that time, the 4d or “groat” had been discontinued as a circulating coin; it was only produced for Maundy sets (with a crowned 4 as the reverse design, not Britannia). 

At our primary school in the 1980s, we used to sing a lot of very archaic and racist songs - one was called “Down in Demarara” and included lines that included “And that poor horsie said to the emperorah” Anyone know it?

Yes — We discussed this a couple of years back in this thread after I posted this nice stiver:

 

Sorry, I am sure I am on the first album of EATOT on the Caretaker scale, seem to be forgetting things here and there.

Ah, yes — I had to Google this but I should have known what you mean since it's in my “watch later” on YouTube (EATEOT). I personally have a very bad short time memory. If I don't tell myself “Remember this!” (e.g. a name or the date and time of an appointment) I'll forget within hours or even minutes if I can't write it down right away.