Description and research notes
Original 5 Pesos Billete de Tesoreria issued by the Republic of Honduras at Comayagua and dated April 20, 1873. The printed text makes it payable to bearer against the national Treasury under the decree of March 18 of the same year, a stop-gap fiscal instrument used in place of scarce coin.
Handwritten signatures and multiple official seals are present. The reverse records in-use history and redemption: manuscript endorsements dated July 20, 1874 (Comayagua) and a later note 'Convertido en billetes — Comay[agua] Junio 11, 1875,' confirming conversion into later circulating notes. Rectangular and oval treasury/revenue office stamps further document handling by state offices.
Historical context: In the 1870s Honduras relied on treasury vales and billetes to finance operations before standardized banknote issues. These pieces circulated locally, were accepted for taxes, and were later exchanged for formal notes when funding allowed. Surviving signed and endorsed examples from 1873 are scarce, as most were redeemed and destroyed. This example retains clear date, city, and redemption annotations—an instructive artifact of early Central American public finance.
Catalog and rarity: This issue is unlisted in the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money (Pick) and major databases, with no recorded Heritage or Spink sales as of 2025. It represents a previously undocumented variant of the 'Billete de Tesorería' 1873 decree, making it of exceptional historical and numismatic importance within early Honduran fiscal paper.