Mexican Gold and Silver Coins From Yesterday and Today
La Casa de Moneda de México: Hundreds of Years of Minting Gold and Silver Coinage
Mexico is a major producer of gold and silver. Its silver mining production ranks first in the world and its gold mining production is the eighth largest.
La Casa de Moneda de México is the official mint of Mexico founded in 1535 during the time when Spanish Conquistador, Hernán Cortés, conquered the Aztec Empire in modern day Mexico and along with it, the vast gold and silver deposits in the region. La Casa de Moneda produced initially primitive silver coins from the local mines for local circulation. Eventually, around 1598, La Casa de Moneda began producing a more substantial, quality silver coin, the silver real de a ocho, or piece of eight coin. The piece of eight was the Spanish Dollar and weighed 0.883125 troy ounces and was made of 93% fine silver.
The size and fineness of the silver piece of eight made it a trusted unit of account. La Casa Moneda’s large mint operation provided much of the coinage for the New World, including the United States, where the silver piece of eight coin was legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. The piece of eight was also widely used and accepted in international transactions.
La Casa de Moneda also began producing gold coins in 1679.
Today, La Casa de Moneda continues to produce a wide variety of gold and silver coins. Coins from La Casa Moneda offer quality gold and silver bullion with a long historical pedigree.
Mexican Silver Coins Today
The most popular silver bullion coin is the Mexican Silver Libertad (pictured below) and is minted of .999 fine silver and produced in 1/20, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, 1 2 and 5 ounce sizes, as well as in a one Kilogram size.
Mexican Gold Coins Today
La Casa de Moneda also produces Mexican Gold Libertads. Because La Casa de Moneda has been minting gold coins for centuries, it is often also possible to find gold coins they have minted in prior decades at reasonable prices. For example, “The Centenario” (pictured below) first minted in 1921 to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spain contains 1.2057 troy oz of gold and features a design similar to the Libertad. The Gold Centenario was minted from 1921-1931 and from 1944-1947. Further issuances of the Gold Centenario were minted from 1949-1972 but dated 1947.
La Casa de Moneda has also produced from time to time smaller gold coins. For example, the Mexican 2 peso gold coin containing nearly a twentieth of an ounce of gold (.0482 oz.) was minted first minted in 1919. The 2 peso coin was reintroduced from 1944-48 and in restruck 1945 dated from 1951 to 1972, in 1996, and from 2000 to 2009.
A larger 2 1/2 peso coin containing 0.0603 troy oz of gold was also issued by La Casa de Moneda from 1870 to 1893 and from 1918 and 1948.
This article by BGASC is not, and should not be regarded as, investment advice or as a recommendation regarding any particular course of action.