The New York International Numismatic Convention is right around the corner and with that our January 2025 NYINC Showcase Auction of World Paper Money. Next week, we will be conducting live auctions of Session A and Session B, with two online sessions the following week. I look forward to attending the show at what is one of the premier venues for world numismatics every year. In this blog we will look at an item that we will be offering later this year, a note from one of the rarest issuing authorities in the British Commonwealth: the Colony of Berbice. The colony of Berbice was a de facto colony of Great Britain from 1803 to 1815 when the British occupied the former Dutch colony. The Dutch formally ceded Berbice to the British with the November 1815 ratification of the 1814 Anglo-Dutch Treaty. In 1831, Berbice merged with Essequibo & Demerara to form the new colony of British Guiana, which eventually became the country of Guiana.
Throughout the 18th century, Berbice saw limited development, with scattered plantations along the Berbice and Canje rivers. The capital of the colony was Fort Nassau, located 50 miles from the coast on the Berbice River. Another settlement, known as Nieuw (New) Amsterdam, was located near the coast. Development of the colony was closely linked with nearby Suriname (also a Dutch colony that would remain so until 1975 when it gained its independence).
In 1762, the country had a recorded population of about 4,500 people, not including the Native people that had called the land home for generations. Less than 10% of the population were white Europeans, with the majority consisting of enslaved Africans, including many recent arrivals. The following year, under the leadership of an enslaved man named Coffij, the first major slave revolt in the Americas took place in Berbice. The 1763 Berbice Rebellion saw thousands of slaves revolt against the Europeans, who were driven away from their plantations. Only after reinforcements arrived from neighboring colonies and Europe was the uprising struck down. For an excellent read on the rebellion, I suggest Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast by Marjoleine Kars.
Paper money collectors may be familiar with the issue of Essequibo & Demerara, which is typically seen in unissued form and listed in the Pick catalog under British Guiana, with notes denominated in Joes and Guilders. Coins were also issued, which circulated alongside Dutch Guldens (Guilders) leftover from the Dutch period. In nearby Berbice Guilders were also the currency of choice. At the time Berbice continued to be sparsely settled (New Amsterdam had a total population of fewer than 2,500 people in the early 1820s, many of whom continued to be enslaved individuals). However, paper currency was also printed for the Colony of Berbice. In A History of Currency in the British Colonies, published in 1893, Sir Robert B. Chalmers writes:
The beginning of the purely Colonial [paper money] issues seems to have been in 1809…[later] more paper was issued; so that in 1816 the Colony reported that there was in specie only about “200 Pounds Sterling in circulation…The general established currency of the Colony of Berbice is paper”…By 1829 the paper issues of Berbice amounted to 365,416 guilders.
Of this amount, Chalmers writes that 94,907 Guilders “represented issues of 1826,” which appear to be notes dated 1825. Despite what must have been a fairly substantial issue, very few examples of paper money issued in the Colony of Berbice are known to exist. When Berbice united with Demerara and Essequibo in 1831 to form British Guiana it appears virtually all notes in circulation at the time were withdrawn, and today, notes from Berbice are extremely rare.
Just two examples of paper money printed for the Colony of Berbice have appeared publicly in the past four decades. A 10 Stivers dated 1825, in remainder form, is in the collection of the British Museum, where it has been since 1984. Another remainder example of the same denomination was sold at public auction in 2021. To that we can now add a 1 Guilder, also dated 1825. While the serial number and signatures have faded, they remain partly visible, and there is no doubt that this note (graded Choice Fine 15 by PMG) is a fully issued example that circulated in Berbice in the 1820s. A true miracle of survival, there is little else at this time that we can add about this note except for a description of its design. A typical British printing of the period, the note is uniface, and shows a vignette of Justice at upper left, and a decorative border at left no doubt meant to deter counterfeiting. The note is signed by two commissaries and a secretary “By Command of the Council of Government.” The note is printed on watermarked paper, with the watermark consisting of the words “COLONY OF BERBICE.”
With so little known about the paper money of Berbice, this note is a truly fascinating relic of history that will surely be of interest to specialists of the Commonwealth or British Guiana. The newly-discovered issued 1825 1 Guilder will be offered as part of our Spring 2025 Maastricht Showcase Auction – World Paper Money. To consign your items alongside this rarity, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Dennis Hengeveld at [email protected] or call 800-458-4646.
