Currency history

Guatemalan quetzal

Guatemalan quetzal: a currency still in use.

Dates in use: Still in use; introduction date not established here
Currency code: GTQ
Ancestry branch: Spanish real / peso

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Where this money came from

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4 ancestors · 0 descendants. Follow a name to its history. Select a dated connection for its evidence.

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Predecessor

This currencyGTQ

No successor is established here. This does not imply extinction.

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The story

The issuer states that the November 1924 monetary law created the quetzal as a gold-standard monetary unit. ^[1]

Turning points

1924-11

Currency replacement

The quetzal replaced the Guatemalan peso at sixty pesos per quetzal. ^[2]

1924-11

Initially valued at

The new quetzal was defined as equal to one US dollar at its creation. Founding unit definition, not inference from a later exchange-rate peg. ^[3]

Changing monetary anchors

United States dollar · 1924–1925 · unit adoption event
1 GTQ = 1 USD at reform; 60 local pesos = 1 GTQ. Terms and evidence ↗

Sources and evidence

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Cite this page

“Guatemalan quetzal.” The Family Tree of Money. © Field Technologies, Inc. Reader edition 2026-10-13; research dataset v44. https://familytreeofmoney.org/currency/FTM000075.html

Editorial evidence supplement · Download dataset v44