El Banco de Tlaxcala

By the 1880s there was a general lack of currency in this state and the simultaneous circulation of various decimal and predecimal coins, both genuine and counterfeit, and tokens (fichas, tlacos y pilones) issued by storekeepers, haciendas and mining companies. To address this on 24 March 1883 Governor José Mariano Grajales, in decree núm. 136^{[text needed]}, with the approval of the legislature, authorised the establishment of a bank of issue. Four days later he agreed a contract^{[text needed]} with the Puebla businessman, Emilio Alvarez, to organise, as himself or through the company that he formed, a bank of deposit, circulation and issue to be called “El Banco de Tlaxcala”^{La Voz de México, 1 April 1883}.

The bank would have a capital of at least $200,000 and at most $500,000. It was to issue notes that would be payable on sight in hard currency and accepted as such by the state offices. There would be ten denominations (25c, 50c, $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000) and the notes would be signed by a member of the governing board, the director of the bank and the interventor appointed by the government. They would carry the seal of the bank and the revenue stamp of the Federal government^{ANT, "Establecimiento de un Banco hipotecario”, 28 March 1883}.

However, the bank never progressed beyond paper, either through the fault of Alvarez^{La Antigua República, Tlaxcala, Quinta Época, Núm. 49, 7 January 1906} or because Grajales, because of opposition, did not complete his term as governor, leaving office in July 1884.