THE HISTORY OF MINTING THE NATIONAL CURRENCY

 After the declaration of Independence in 1844, the first Dominican coins appeared in denominations in the form of the quarter, or real, minted by the Scoville Manufacturing Company of the United States. These coins were widely known as “cuartillos”. 

In 1848 the circulation of $.05-, $.10- and $.25-U.S. cents was authorized, equal to half a real, one real and one peseta fuerte, respectively. These were put into circulation together with $1, $2 and $20-peso banknotes.

 From 1877 to 1888, the “motas and níqueles” came into circulation.  These 5-, 2½- and ¼-cent coins were considered some of our most interesting.  Towards the end of the 19^th century the famous “clavaos” came into use; they were rejected by the population because its face value was lower than its purported value.

 Before the creation of the Central Bank and during the first U. S. military occupation, monetary circulation was based on banknotes and gold coins from the United States and other countries, the remains of certain fiduciary coins from the former century, tokens from sugar cane mills and banknotes issued by municipalities. This situation existed until the beginning of Rafael Trujillo’s reign.

Law No. 1259 went into effect on February 21, 1937.  It was responsible for creating the national currency and it contemplated a series of regulations on minting coins of all denominations, taking into consideration that they had to be minted following the same fashion as U. S. coins as far as elegance, weight, shape, dimensions and scale of units.  This pattern was kept until 1975.

 The first minting of coins was in the amount of RD$600,000.00 in denominations ranging from RD$0.01 to RD$0.50 cents. During this time, one peso coins were not minted since the U. S. banknote for that denomination was in circulation for a considerable time.  The issuance of new coins was lauded, although they quickly became scarce due to the insufficient amounts minted.

 Coins of the RD$1.00- and RD$5.00-peso denomination were issued by the Central Bank according to the following Laws drafted by the Executive Branch:

 The design and features of the RD$1.00-peso coins for national circulation were authorized on September 12, 1991, pursuant to Law No. 329-90.

 The issuance and minting of the bi-metallic RD$5.00-peso coin was authorized on October 28, 1997 by Law No. 205-97.  Their design and features were authorized via Law No. 460-97.