We buy Honduras gold pesos.

The series

All of it comes from the Casa Nacional de la Moneda in Tegucigalpa. The first gold is the 1 peso of 1871, a one-year type with a head of Liberty and the arms; exactly when it was struck is not recorded. Gold patterns dated 1871 also exist for the 2, 5 and 10 pesos.

The regular gold coinage began in 1888, on the Latin Monetary Union standard of .900 fine, from dies cut by the Guatemalan engraver Johann Baptist Frener. One side shows a head of Liberty facing left with 15 DE SETIEMBRE DE 1821 and CENTRO-AMERICA. The other shows the arms, a volcano between two towers with a pyramid behind, a rainbow and a liberty cap, with REPUBLICA DE HONDURAS, the date, the denomination and 0.900. The edge is reeded. There is no mint mark and no assayer letter, so a coin is identified by denomination and date alone.

• 1 peso, 1.61 grams, 17 millimeters. Dates include 1888, 1889, 1895, 1896, 1901, 1902, 1907 and 1922. The 1922 was struck into the mid-1920s as a wedding gift and is the date most often seen, then 1888 and 1895.
• 5 pesos, 8.06 grams, 21 millimeters. Dates include 1883, 1888 over 3, 1890, 1895 over 85, 1896, 1897, 1900, 1902, 1908 over 888 and 1913. The 1913 is the most available, though its reported mintage is doubted by dealers.
• 10 pesos, 16.13 grams, 28 millimeters. 1883, of which a group of thirteen surfaced in 2000, and 1889, which is rare, with two known. Very few of either exist.
• 20 pesos, about 32.3 grams. 1888, with probably fewer than thirty struck and three traced, plus 1895, of which three were struck, and the overdates 1908 over 897 and 1908 over 888. The 1888 is rare, and very few of the overdates are known.

The 1883-dated 5 and 10 pesos are later special strikes rather than coins of 1883. Overdates are common across the series because the mint reused its dies. No restrikes are documented.

Honduras also produced a crude provisional gold at Tegucigalpa in 1824 and 1825 from hand-cut dies, demonetized in 1833. Fewer than ten survive. The regular escudos of the Central American Republic were struck in Guatemala and Costa Rica, not Honduras, and have their own page.

What affects the offer

• Denomination and date. With mintages in the tens, and sometimes in single digits, the date is most of the value, and an overdate can be worth a great deal more than the plain date.
• Grade. These coins never circulated, so most survive About Uncirculated to Mint State. The strikes are a little crude, with die clash and die flaws normal for the mint, and that is priced in.
• Surfaces. Many pieces have been harshly cleaned or polished, and some were mounted as jewelry. Both lower the offer, but we still buy them.
• Certification is welcome but not required. We buy raw coins and price them on what we see.

What to send

A clear photo of the front and back of each coin. A short video, turning the coin in the light, helps too. Phone photos are fine, and if a coin is in a holder, photograph it in the holder.