KM-21a with HOND variety, struck at the Tegucigalpa mint.

First of this neat, provisional, copper-lead alloy 8R type we’ve ever offered, mostly because every one we’ve seen before this was downright awful.

But this is a pleasing, original, well made, evenly struck, golden brown Choice VF which is the finest certified of the type at PCGS.

<<This article about Honduras’ coinage covers the issues struck in or after 1840, the year in which Honduras declared itself fully independent shortly after the demise of the Central American Federation. I have intentionally left out the 1823-1832 period which includes the early provisional issues of 1823-1825 (check our short article on one of these early issues in this Newsletter!) and the coins issued under the Central American authority from 1824-1832 (note the overlapping, due to the very rare 1824 Provisional 1 Real but issued with the Central American Republic design) which we have reviewed in a past Newsletter.

During the period we are reviewing, we first encounter the low fineness silver coins issued with the legend “Moneda Provisional del Estado de Honduras”, which were initially issued in 1832, and continued with the same basic design until 1861. As indicated in its legends, this series was intended from the start to be a provisional – debased – coinage, since producing a full fineness “definitive” coinage was out of the question for Honduras at that point as the available equipment at the Mint was inadequate (witness for instance the high crudeness of this whole series), and silver was not available in sufficient quantities. Initially, the fineness of the coins was planned to be of 0.333 silver (all the 1832 dated coins should have this fineness), but it was then further lowered, and reached a minimum of 0.04 fineness (!!!) for the 1853 issues. As evidenced by the coinage itself, the Honduran authorities then simply “gave up” and started issuing pure copper coins in 1856 (only 4 and 8 Reales), and even Copper-Lead coins (again only 4 and 8 Reales) starting in 1857. Nevertheless, all of these low quality coins did circulate as shown by the poor condition of almost all surviving specimens: anything with good eye appeal and in a decent grade, particularly for the later issues of the “Moneda Provisional del Estado de Honduras”, is worth grabbing. Evidently, date collectors are also out there and they hotly pursued many of the rarer dates in the recent auctions of the Dana Roberts material, which sold for many times their “book” values. As mentioned previously, the “Moneda Provisional del Estado de Honduras” coinage did circulate, but this came at a price, or more exactly with a great devaluation. Contemporary accounts state that the going rate of exchange in the late 1850’s was of around 64 to1, meaning that a full fineness silver coin of 1 Real was worth 64 Reales in “Moneda Provisional del Estado de Honduras” coins. This was Gresham’s Law at a high expression (but not highest, as we shall see…)!

$975

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