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Message:: [QUOTE="techwriter, post: 3209355, member: 75477"]hotwheelsearl in regards to the "gypsy", here's a story:Two Mexican Women Peter Symes For many years, two of the lowest denomination notes circulating in Mexico were adorned with portraits of women. The 10-peso note carried a young woman in a peculiar and ornate headdress, while the 5-peso note bore the head of a lady garlanded with jewellery. Both women appear on banknotes issued by the Banco de Mexico, but one of them is not Mexican; both women have been the subject of debate, but for entirely different reasons; and both women have been identified, but, for the identity of one, a legend continues to supplant the truth. The first of these two women to be immortalized appeared on the 5-peso notes of the Banco de Mexico, issued from its foundation in 1925 until 1972. Immediately following the issue of the banknotes, rumour spread as to the identity of the woman portrayed in the vignette, although initially she was referred to as the gitana, or ‘gypsy’. While the identity of the ‘gypsy’ was never officially disclosed, it was not long before the lady was determined to be Gloria Faure. Gloria Faure and her sister Laura were two Catalonian ‘artistes’ who were performing in Mexico around 1925. The ladies were reported to have shared their favours with a number of influential men in Mexico and Gloria was said to be the mistress of Alberto J. Pani, the Minister of Finance in the Mexican Government. Pani was known for his philandering and speculation asserted that it was his mistress who had posed for the portrait of the gypsy. Pani’s philandering had followed him to New York in 1925, where he was negotiating a financial deal with the Americans on behalf of the Mexican Government. While in New York he was accused of keeping women in conditions that were contrary to the ‘Mann Act’, or the ‘White Slavery’ act. His hotel was searched but no charges laid. However, the scandal had broken and the woman who was supposedly accompanying Pani was Gloria Faure. Pani offered to resign, but President Plutarco Elías Calles refused his resignation, having told his Deputies that he did not want a Cabinet of eunuchs. President Calles’ support for Pani was possibly due to his similar penchant for the fairer sex. Indeed, Calles was suspected of having accepted favours from Gloria Faure himself. This brought accusations that the appearance of Gloria Faure’s portrait on the banknotes had been orchestrated through the efforts of the President himself and not through the intervention of the Finance Minister. However, no matter who was responsible, it became certain that Gloria Faure had posed as the ‘gypsy’. Truth, of course, is not nearly so exciting as fiction. In 1976 the head of the Numismatic Museum at the Banco de Mexico, Professor Guadelupe Monroy, wrote to the American Banknote Company, asking for details on the portrait that appeared on the Mexican 5-peso notes. The reply indicated that the original engraving was created by Mr. Robert Savage as a stock vignette and was titled ‘The Ideal Head of an Algerian Girl’. More importantly, the portrait was engraved in 1910, fifteen years before the 5-peso notes were issued and long before the era of Gloria Faure’s great popularity. Despite the efforts of Professor Monroy in seeking the truth, the legend of Gloria Faure lives on, with many dealers’ lists and catalogues continuing to identify the portrait as that of the Catalonian artiste.This article was completed in January 2003(and last updated in January 2007)© Peter Symes So there you go. An example from my collection:[ATTACH=full]832859[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

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