British Guiana, Colony of Berbice, unissued 10 stivers, 1825, black and white, Justice standing top left (Pick unlisted), Printed by Ashby & Co. London. in PMG holder 30 Very Fine, An example is in the British Museum Collection. Since 1627, the Berbice river region was a Dutch colony besieged by various naval attacks and sackings due to its prime location at the rivers mouth. These attacks began during the Second Anglo-Dutch war in 1665 wherein the British attacked the neighbouring colonies of Pomeroon and Essquibo. Whilst the British population of Essequibo grew over the next century, the nearby colony of Berbice remained stagnant. During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, Britain controlled the three Dutch River Colonies, including Berbice, however, Berbice was returned to the Dutch. This changed during the French Revolutionary wars when Britain gained back control and after some back and forth with the newly formed Batvian Republic, Berbice was back in British control in September 1803. This was changed two years later when the Dutch formally signed over all of these colonies to Britain wherein Berbice bERBICE became part of British Guinea in 1831 and remained an administrative colony until 1958. Not to be confused with the more commonplace issue of Demerary and Essequebo with similar design. This example extremely rare and one other example believed extant and that is in the collection of the British Museum
