Did the Republic of Texas Ever Strike Its Own Coins? The Documented Answer
Short on time? The essentials
- The Republic of Texas lasted from the ratification of its Constitution in September 1836 through the formal transfer of authority to the State of Texas on February 19, 1846, per the Handbook of Texas.
- The 1836 Constitution granted Congress the "power to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coins" and provided that "nothing but gold and silver coins shall be made a lawful tender." No coin was ever minted by or for the Republic.
- The metal money that actually circulated was US coin, Spanish colonial and Mexican silver, and state-chartered bank notes from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, per the Handbook of Texas.
- Small private and municipal notes under one dollar were called "shinplasters." Congress banned bank and private paper as legal currency in 1837 and issued its own paper the same year.
- The Act of June 12, 1837 authorized 500,000 dollars in interest-bearing promissory notes, later called "Star Money" for the small five-pointed star on the face. Sam Houston said the issue was needed "to avoid the absolute dissolution of the Government."
- An 1839 act under President Lamar authorized non-interest bearing notes called "red backs." They opened at 37.5 cents in specie and sank to about 2 cents on the dollar by the winter of 1841 to 1842.
- An 1842 act under President Houston, second term, authorized "exchequer bills." Total exchequer bills issued reached 150,490 dollars against a 200,000 dollar cap.
- The coin most often mistaken today for a "Republic of Texas coin" is the Texas Centennial half dollar. It was struck by the US Bureau of the Mint from 1934 to 1938, about 90 years after the Republic ended.
On this page
- The direct answer
- What the 1836 Constitution actually said
- What money Texans actually handled
- Star Money, 1837
- Redbacks, 1839
- Exchequer bills, 1842
- Private paper: McKinney Williams and Mills' Money
- The Texas Centennial half dollar, 1934 to 1938
- What sellers usually mean by "Republic of Texas coin" today
- What the record does not show
- Where to see original examples
- Republic of Texas coins FAQ
The direct answer
The Handbook of Texas Online states the matter plainly: "no coins were ever minted by, or for, the republic." The entry, titled The Monetary History of the Republic of Texas and authored by E. T. Miller, was published in 1952 and last updated on November 1, 1995. It remains the standard institutional summary of Republic-era money.
The Republic did have paper money. It issued three distinct series of government notes between 1837 and 1842. It also had legal-tender rules that recognized US and foreign gold and silver coin. What it never had was a mint, a coin die, or a struck piece bearing a Republic denomination.
Any "coin" sold today as a Republic of Texas issue is either a later commemorative struck by the US Mint, a modern private token or medal, or an outright fantasy piece. None of them circulated in Texas between March 1836 and February 1846.
What the 1836 Constitution actually said
The Constitution of the Republic of Texas was drafted at Washington-on-the-Brazos by a convention of fifty-nine delegates that assembled on March 1, 1836, per the Handbook of Texas entry on the Constitution. It was adopted by the convention fifteen days later and ratified by popular vote in September 1836.
On money, the document tracked US federal practice. Congress received the "power to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coins," per the Miller entry quoting the constitutional text. The same section provided that "nothing but gold and silver coins shall be made a lawful tender."
Congress then legislated that the standard value of gold and silver coins in the Republic should be the same as in the United States. That was the extent of the coinage regime. No implementing act ever funded a mint, ordered dies, or contracted a private mint to strike Texas coin.
What money Texans actually handled
Metallic money was scarce across the United States in the late 1830s and even scarcer in Texas, per the Handbook of Texas. Imports exceeded exports, and the adverse trade balance drained gold and silver out of the country. The Panic of 1837 opened a depression that ran until 1845, almost the exact life span of the Republic.
What did circulate as metal was US coin, Spanish colonial silver such as the milled dollar and its fractional reales, and Mexican silver from the era just before the Republic. These were the coins the 1836 Constitution meant by "gold and silver coins" for legal tender.
As paper, the notes of state-chartered banks from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee were the most commonly found in Texas, per the Handbook. Below the dollar mark, "shinplasters" issued by Texas private firms and municipal corporations passed hand to hand. In 1837 Congress moved to push these out and give the Republic's own paper the field.
Star Money, 1837
The Act of June 12, 1837 authorized 500,000 dollars in promissory notes. President Sam Houston justified the issue by saying it was needed "to avoid the absolute dissolution of the Government," per the Miller entry. The first notes appeared in the fall of 1837.
They were printed, bore ten percent interest, and were payable twelve months from date. The payee's name was written in on the face, and the note passed by endorsement. Denominations were 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 dollars.
These printed notes were called "Star Money" for the small five-pointed star at the center of the upper part of the face. In December 1837 Congress authorized 150,000 dollars more in interest notes and 10,000 dollars in non-interest "change notes" of low denomination.
The printed interest notes held up in the market. The Handbook of Texas states that 514,500 dollars of them circulated at, or nearly at, par in specie because the interest feature gave them an investment character. The later engraved interest notes did not hold. Their value in specie per dollar dropped from 65 cents in May 1838 to 40 cents in January 1839.
Redbacks, 1839
Under President Mirabeau B. Lamar, an act of January 19, 1839 authorized a new type of paper. These were promissory notes payable to bearer and without interest. Contemporaries called them "red backs." Denominations were 5, 10, 20, 100, and 500 dollars, with change notes of 1, 2, and 3 dollars.
The 150,000 dollar limit applied to the change notes only. There was no ceiling on the redbacks other than the amount of appropriations they had to meet. That absence of a hard cap did what unlimited government paper tends to do.
The redbacks first appeared at 37.5 cents on the dollar in specie. They continued to sink. By the winter of 1841 to 1842 they had, in some parts of Texas, a market value of only 2 cents on the dollar. In the fall of 1840 the government began to pay them out at market value, and in February 1842 they lost their legal-tender power in the payment of taxes.
Exchequer bills, 1842
Sam Houston came back to the presidency for a second term in December 1841. The Handbook of Texas records his verdict on the paper record so far, quoting him in 1842: the notes were "no light evils." Houston asked Congress for a new kind of currency, and the Act of January 19, 1842 provided for "exchequer bills."
These were treasury notes under a new name. Denominations were 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars, with change notes in denominations from 12.5 cents to 3 dollars. The exchequer bills were payable to a designated payee or to order.
The first issues were printed and the later ones engraved. Congress set a 200,000 dollar limit on the outstanding amount. The Handbook of Texas reports that the total of exchequer bills issued reached 150,490 dollars. By 1845 specie was in sufficient supply that the authorizing law could be repealed.
Private paper: McKinney Williams and Mills' Money
After the collapse of the redbacks was recognized even by the government in 1840, the 1837 prohibitions were widely ignored. State bank notes and shinplasters returned to extensive use, per the Handbook of Texas.
In 1841 the mercantile firm of McKinney, Williams and Company of Galveston was authorized to issue 30,000 dollars of its own promissory notes as money. This was one of the few explicitly sanctioned private issues.
Better known are the "Mills' Money" notes. These were notes of the defunct Northern Bank of Mississippi at Holly Springs, endorsed and reissued by the Galveston firm of R. and D. G. Mills, per the Handbook. Circulating hand to hand, they filled a gap that Republic paper could not, without any coin ever being struck.
| Series and authorizing act | Denominations | Character and outcome |
|---|---|---|
| "Star Money" interest notes, Act of June 12, 1837 (plus December 1837 supplement) | 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 dollars, plus low-denomination "change notes" | Printed, 10 percent interest, payable 12 months from date, passed by endorsement. 514,500 dollars of interest notes circulated at or near par in specie. Later engraved interest notes depreciated from 65 cents in May 1838 to 40 cents in January 1839. |
| "Red backs" non-interest promissory notes, Act of January 19, 1839 | 5, 10, 20, 100, 500 dollars, with change notes of 1, 2, 3 dollars | Payable to bearer, no interest, no fixed ceiling other than appropriations. First traded at 37.5 cents on the dollar in specie. Sank to about 2 cents on the dollar by the winter of 1841 to 1842. Lost legal-tender power for taxes in February 1842. |
| Exchequer bills, Act of January 19, 1842 | 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 dollars, with change notes from 12.5 cents to 3 dollars | Treasury notes under a new name, first printed then engraved. Statutory cap of 200,000 dollars. Total issued reached 150,490 dollars. Authorizing law was repealed in 1845 when specie was again in sufficient supply. |
Source: Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. The Monetary History of the Republic of Texas, by E. T. Miller. Published 1952, updated November 1, 1995. Checked August 2026.
The Texas Centennial half dollar, 1934 to 1938
The piece that people most often ask about, when they ask about "Republic of Texas coins," is the Texas Centennial half dollar. It is a real US coin. It is also not a Republic of Texas coin.
The Texas Centennial half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the US Bureau of the Mint from 1934 to 1938. It weighs 12.5 grams, measures 30.61 millimeters across, and is 90 percent silver with 10 percent copper, giving 0.36169 troy ounces of silver per coin, per the Whitman Guide Book of United States Coins.
The obverse shows a bald eagle in front of the Lone Star of Texas. The reverse shows the winged goddess Victory over the Alamo, portraits of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, and the six flags over Texas. The designer was the sculptor Pompeo Coppini, who was already known for public monuments across Texas.
The coin was proposed by the American Legion's Texas Centennial Committee and was intended to help fund the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin. The Philadelphia Mint struck the 1934 issue. The Denver and San Francisco mints joined production from 1935 onward. Total net mintage across all three mints and all five years was 149,478 coins, per the Whitman guide mintage table reproduced on Wikipedia.
What sellers usually mean by "Republic of Texas coin" today
Because the Republic never struck a coin, every item marketed under a "Republic of Texas coin" label falls into one of four buckets. Each one has a documented explanation, and none of them are what a Texan of 1840 would have called money.
The first bucket is the 1934 to 1938 Texas Centennial half dollar. This is a US coin with Republic-era imagery and Republic-era portraits. It is often marketed as "the Texas coin," which is true. Marketing it as a Republic of Texas coin conflates a 1930s US commemorative with a 19th-century Republic that never struck any coin.
The second bucket is later commemoratives and bullion pieces bearing Texas imagery. Examples include private silver rounds, medals produced for state or civic anniversaries, and bullion issues from private mints. These are collectibles or bullion. They carry no Republic authority.
The third bucket is modern reproductions and fantasy pieces struck to look Republic-era. These have no legal-tender history, no mintage records tied to the Republic, and typically no numismatic pedigree. Any such piece described as a "Republic of Texas coin" is a piece designed to look old, not a piece that existed in 1840.
The fourth bucket is the paper notes of the Republic. Genuine Star Money, redback, and exchequer-bill notes do survive and trade in the collector market. These are historical currency, not coins, and any coin-shaped item advertised as "Republic of Texas currency" is not one of them.
What the record does not show
The monetary history of the Republic is well documented for a nine-year state on the frontier, but the record has gaps a careful reader should know about.
Total private and municipal shinplaster issues are not centrally counted. The Handbook of Texas describes them qualitatively as "usually of less than one dollar" and issued by private firms and municipal corporations across the Republic. No central census exists.
The population of surviving Star Money, redback, and exchequer-bill notes today is not published as a single institutional figure. Museum and archive holdings are documented piece by piece. Estimates of surviving totals come from the collector market rather than a central register.
The Handbook of Texas entry is dated in the sense that it was authored in 1952 and last updated in November 1995. Newer academic work on Republic-era finance exists in journals and monographs, but the core facts about coin issuance have not changed. The Republic still never struck a coin.
Where to see original examples
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin holds Republic-era government records, including papers and printed material tied to Republic finance. The Texas State Historical Association maintains the Handbook of Texas Online, which is the single most cited source on the topic.
The Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin covers Republic-period Texas across its permanent exhibits. County historical museums along the coast and in central Texas often hold locally donated Republic paper and later Texas Centennial pieces.
Public university libraries in the University of Texas and Texas A and M systems hold the standard reference works and periodicals on Republic finance. The primary academic starting point remains the Handbook of Texas Online entry cited throughout this page.
Republic of Texas coins FAQ
Did the Republic of Texas ever operate a mint?
No. The Handbook of Texas Online states that "no coins were ever minted by, or for, the republic." The 1836 Constitution granted Congress the power to coin money and regulate the value of foreign coins, but no implementing law ever funded a mint or contracted for one.
What did Texans use for money between 1836 and 1846?
They used US coin, Spanish colonial silver, and Mexican silver as metal money. They used state-chartered bank notes from states such as Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee as paper money. From late 1837 they also used the Republic's own paper notes, per the Handbook of Texas.
What were "redbacks"?
Redbacks were non-interest promissory notes issued under an act of January 19, 1839, during the Lamar administration. Denominations ran from 1 to 500 dollars. They opened at 37.5 cents on the dollar in specie and fell to about 2 cents on the dollar by the winter of 1841 to 1842, per the Handbook of Texas.
What is a "Star Money" note?
Star Money is the popular name for the 1837 interest-bearing promissory notes of the Republic, which carried a small five-pointed star on the upper center of the face. The Act of June 12, 1837 authorized 500,000 dollars of these notes. They paid 10 percent interest and were payable twelve months from date.
What is the coin often sold as a "Republic of Texas coin" actually?
It is almost always the Texas Centennial half dollar, a US commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the US Bureau of the Mint from 1934 to 1938. It weighs 12.5 grams, is 90 percent silver, and was designed by Pompeo Coppini. Total net mintage across five years was 149,478 coins, per the Whitman Guide Book of United States Coins.
Is the Texas Centennial half dollar valuable?
Values depend on year, mint mark, and grade. This page is not a value guide. Net mintages differ by year and mint, from 61,350 for the 1934 Philadelphia issue down to 3,770 for the 1938 Denver issue. The mintage table appears in the Whitman guide, reproduced on Wikipedia. A dealer or grading service is the correct venue for a specific quote.
When did the Republic of Texas end?
The US Congress accepted the Texas state constitution on December 29, 1845, the date of Texas's legal entry into the Union. The formal transfer of authority from the Republic to the State of Texas took place at a ceremony in Austin on February 19, 1846, per the Handbook of Texas entry on Annexation. President Anson Jones handed the reins to Governor James Pinckney Henderson that day.
Are Republic of Texas paper notes still collectible?
Yes. Original Star Money notes, redbacks, and exchequer bills survive in institutional collections and in the numismatic market. Values depend on series, denomination, condition, and provenance. Any dealer selling a piece marketed as "Republic currency" should be able to identify the series, the authorizing act, and the source of the piece.
Sources
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. The Monetary History of the Republic of Texas, by E. T. Miller. Published 1952, updated November 1, 1995. Primary source for the "no coins were ever minted by, or for, the republic" finding, the constitutional coinage language, the 1837 Act of June 12 and Star Money, the 1839 redbacks under Lamar, the 1842 exchequer bills under Houston's second term, the 65 cents to 40 cents depreciation of the engraved interest notes, the 37.5 cents to 2 cents collapse of the redbacks, and the McKinney Williams and Mills' Money private paper. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/money-of-the-republic-of-texas. Checked August 2026.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836), by Joe E. Ericson. Published 1952, updated February 25, 2016. Source for the March 1, 1836 opening of the Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos, the adoption of the Constitution fifteen days later, and the popular-vote ratification in September 1836. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/constitution-of-the-republic-of-texas. Checked August 2026.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Annexation, by C. T. Neu. Published 1976, updated November 1, 1994. Source for the February 28, 1845 US annexation resolution, the October 1845 popular ratification of the state constitution, the December 29, 1845 US acceptance, and the February 19, 1846 formal transfer of authority to the State of Texas. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/annexation. Checked August 2026.
- Wikipedia. Texas Centennial half dollar. Source for the 1934 to 1938 US Bureau of the Mint production, the 12.5 gram weight, 30.61 millimeter diameter, 90 percent silver 10 percent copper composition, 0.36169 troy ounces silver per coin, obverse and reverse designs, Pompeo Coppini as designer, American Legion origin, and the year-by-year mintages summarized from Yeoman, A Guide Book of United States Coins (Whitman, 2020), page 1083. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Centennial_half_dollar. Checked August 2026.
- R. S. Yeoman. A Guide Book of United States Coins, 74th edition. Whitman Publishing, 2020. The Red Book, the standard retail reference. Page 1083 carries the Texas Centennial half dollar specifications and the mintage table cited above.