Timeline

• 19.03.1824
• Coinage law of the Central American Republic; no local law was enacted in Guatemala
• 07.03.1825
• Ordinance [No. 32] on the establishment of a mint in Tegucigalpa; operation started on 02.08.1831
• 1832-1835
• First period of so-called "Provisional Coinage:
  - 31.01.1832: Presidential decree, authorized the issuance of debased "provisional coins" of 2, 1, ½ Reals (silver 6 deniers) to a total amount of 50'000 Pesos; actually more than 80'000 Pesos were issued and the fineness was lower
  - 04.04.1832: Presidential decree, authorized the issuance of debased "provisional coins" of 2, 1, ½ Reals (silver 4 deniers) to a total amount of 50'000 Pesos
  - 24.05.1834: Suspension of the issuance "provisional coins"
  27.06.1835: Government decree of the Central American Federation, invalidates all debased subsidary coins issued by the member states and orders El Salvador and Honduras to withdraw their "provisional coins"; not implemented.
• 19.08.1841
• Ordinance on the rating of the "provisional coins" at 1 : 4 against specie, e.g. 2 "provisional" Reals (billon) = ½ Real (silver)
• 1844-1856
• Second period of so-called "Provisional Coinage:
  - 23.07.1844: Authorisation of the issuance of debased "provisional coins" of 2, 1, ½ Reals (billon 2 deniers) to a total amount of 15'000 Pesos
  - 29.10.1850: Authorisation of the issuance of debased "provisional coins" of 4, 2, 1, ½ Reals (billon 0.100)
  - 08.10.1852: Authorisation of the issuance of debased "provisional coins" of 4, 2, 1, ½ Reals (billon 0.0625)
  - 19.02.1853: Authorisation of the issuance of debased "provisional coins" of 4, 2, 1, ½ Reals (billon 0.004)
  - 12.04.1856: Authorisation of the issuance of debased "provisional coins" of 8, 4 Reals (copper).
• 11.02.1859
• Presidential decree on the adoption of the US Dollar as unit of account and rating of the current foreign gold and silver coins; effective 01.07.1859
• 1862-1879
• Third period of so-called "Provisional Coinage:
  - 24.05.1862: Presidential decree [No. 21], authorized the issuance of copper "provisional coins" of 8, 4, 2, 1 Pesos (at 8 Pesos per Castilian ounce) at at 1 : 4 against billon coinage (and 1 : 16 against specie), e.g. 1 "provisional" Peso (copper) = 2 "provisional" Reals (billon) = ½ Real (silver).

Timeline

• 31.05.1869
• Law [No. 21] the adoption of a national currency in the gold standard of the US Dollar; effective immediately
• 1870-1871
• Attempt to remedy the situation of the subsidiary coinage:
  - 25.02.1869: Contract between the Honduran state and the banking company Dreyfus, Schleyer & Co. (Paris) on the production of copper-nickel subsidiary coins of 1, ½, ¼, ⅛ Real to a total amount of one million Pesos
  - Law [No. 2], authorized the copper-nickel coins as 8, 4, 2, 1 Cents; effective immediately:
  - 28.03.1870: Start of issuance in those departments where no pre-1869 "provisional" coins had been issued before
  - 01.08.1870: Start of issuance in the departments of Comayagua and Tegucigalpa
  - 30.08.1870: Demonetization of the pre-1869 "provisional" coin at a rate 1 "provisional" Peso (copper) = 2 "provisional" Reals (billon) = ½ Real (silver) = 4 Cents
  - 28.11.1870: Demonetization and withdrawal within 48 hours of the copper-nickel subsidiary coins (since merchants were not accepting them in payments or only at an enormous discount); they were redeemed at a rate of 1-2 Cents per Real (regionally different)
  - 06.12.1870: Start of re-issuance of the 1862 "provisional" copper coins of 8, 4, 2, 1 Pesos (as 4, 2, 1, ½ Cents)
  - 11.02.1871: Decision by the mint to discontinue the re-issuance of the (large) 8 and 4 Pesos coins.
• 25.03.1871
• Contract between the Honduran state and George C. Howard (Pennsylvania) on the supply of minting equipment and dies for gold coins of 10, 5 Pesos and silver coins of 50, 25, 10, 5 cents in silver:
  - Due to a war between Honduras and El Salvador, the delivery of the equipment and dies (dated 1871) got delayed until 1873.
• 27.06.1878
• Contract between the Honduran state and George H. Lovett (New York City) on the supply of dies for silver coins of 1 Peso, 50, 25, 10, 5 Cents and copper coins of 1, ½ Cents in copper:
  - The dies for the silver coins proved to be of poor quality so that only a few pieces of 50 Cents (dated 1879) were produced.
• 01.05.1879
• Start of issuance of silver coins of 50, 25, 10, 5 Cents in silver (using the 1871 dies by Howard) and copper coins of 1 Cent in copper (using the 1878 dies by Lovett).
• 02.04.1879
• Law [No. 46] on the transition to the French bimetallic standard; effective 01.05.1879
• 15.01.1880
• Order to the Mint of Tegucigalpa for the production of silver coins in the 1879 standard; start of issuance was 1881 (?)
• 16.10.1888
• Order to the Mint of Tegucigalpa for the production of gold coins in the 1879 standard; start of issuance was 1889 (?)
• 27.02.1899
• Ordinance [No. 125], lowers the fineness of the silver subsidiary coins from 0.900 to 0.835; effective immediately (?)
• 08.08.1918
• Presidential decree [No. 59], declared US banknotes and coins legal tender and pegged the Peso to the US Dollar; effective immediately (formally enacted by the law of 12.09.1919)

Valuation Regimes

• 1869-1879
• Metallic currency based on circulating gold coins. Base weight is the English troy pound / 16 ounces / 480 grains at 373.242 grams.
• 1879-1918
• Metallic currency based on circulating gold and silver coins, de facto only circulating silver.
• 1918-1926
• Fixed rate against US Dollar, de facto use of US banknotes and coins as circulating medium

Timeline

• 03.04.1926
• Law [No. 102] on the currency reform; not implemented
• 09.03.1931
• Law [No. 114] on the implementation of the 1926 currency reform of 1926 (U.S. paper money and gold coins had legal tender status); effective immediately
• 11.02.1932
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 11.02.1932: Start of issuance of paper money by commercial banks using the new denominations
  - 01.06.1933: Start of issuance of subsidiary coins
  - 31.07.1933: End of exchange period, demonetization of the former currency at a rate 0.60 Lempira = 1 Peso.
• 18.03.1943
• Ordinance [No. 59], declares U.S. subsidiary coins of 50, 10 Cents legal tender (effectively extended to all coin denominations); effective immediately
• 31.01.1950
• Currency act [No. 51] on the stabilization and revision of the currency system (together with the Bank act [No. 53] of 03.02.1950); effective immediately
• 30.06.1950
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 30.06.1950: Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins
  - 31.12.1953: Demonetization of the U.S. currency (the previous Honduran currency was not demonetized).

Valuation Regimes

• 1931-1990
• Fixed rate against US Dollar; gold parity was suspended between 31.01.1934 and 31.01.1950 (although Honduras registered a gold parity with the IMF on 18.12.1946).
• 1990-
• Variable rate