I have been a collector of Mexican coins and exonumia. Here are some of my highlights. In some is the ciondition, in some others the rarity and in all my admiration for such "living" witnesses of History!
Wonderful pics . In the 4th picture, is the "dot over M" a mint mark of the mexico city? Most of the modern mexico coins have that.
Indeed! The Mintmark for Mexico City was meant to be a single "M", according to the Decree of the Establishment of a list of Mints all over Latin America, however is the privilege of Mexico City to be the First Mint in the New World. This Decree was signed on may 15, 1535. Later on the Spanish Crown realized the mistake they had made because it was difficult for the people to determine if coins had been actually made in Mexico or in Madrid because both started with the same initial. So it was decided (my guess is that it must have happened around 1545 - 1560) to add a small "o" to complete the initial and final letter of "Mexico". Madrid's Mintmark was added a crown on top to distinguish it from any other.
gracious senior , thx for the explaination for the M for Madrid and Mo for Mexico city. seem some of the Spain modern coins have M. Btw the India Rupee also has Mo
Strictly speaking, there is no mint in Mexico City. The Mexican coins are made in San Luis Potosí and I think that nowadays the M with the O above refers to the CMM (Casa de Moneda de México) as a whole ... Side note @Mumbapuri - Yes, the Spanish mint has been using the crowned M on all modern (1982-) coins. As for the coins depicted here, great pieces! I especially like the one from Jalisco. Christian
My favorite Mexican coin is the 1898 peso which was re-struck by the Mexico City and San Francisco mints in 1949 for Nationalist China. Here is the article that I wrote on them: http://www.brianrxm.com/mardir/mexsf.htm
Yes Virginia, there IS a Mint in Mexico! There IS a Mexico City's Mint and it has the right to use the "Mo". Mexico City's Mint's branch at Legarias has NOT ceased to produce coins, however it became insuficient, so the facilities at San Luis Potosí were opened with newer buildings and modern machinnery. So, there IS actually a Mint in Mexico City! :goofer:
Oh, I see ... so far I have been to Mexico (the DF) just one time, and during our stay we visited the mint's store in downtown Mexico (Reforma). Bought a few pieces there. We had a short but nice chat with one of the sales reps (were the only walk-in customers at that time) and were also told about the fairly new San Luis plant. So I thought that one had replaced the one in the capital. Sorry for causing some confusion here. Then again, don't both production facilities use the "O above M" mint mark? Christian
Oh, most definitely! It was debated to add the "Pi." again back in circulation but it was denied... it would have been a great boost for the numismatic adventurers, but I guess having more than one mint was too much to bear after the history of some and the detriment that they inflicted to our economy at one point or another. Here is a good coin from San Luis Potosí.
The diameter of the Maximiliano Peso made in San Luis Potosí is 37mm, the average size of a Seated Liberty dollar.
