The Mexican FoxLair®
The typical Mexican Coin Collector of our time is a Type Collector! There are many classes and styles of Mexican Type Collectors; some collect a single coin from each type of coin issued by all the Mexican mints. Some collect a single coin from one or more denominations. Some collect a certain era or period of Mexican coins, etc. I’m sure you get the idea without me explaining any more of the hundred plus ways a Type Collector can collect Mexican coins.
Most Mexican Coin Collectors, including Type Collectors, fit into one of several larger categories-- the Novice, the Casual collector, the Serious collector, and finally Advanced collector. But by definition, any Type Collector has a very limited scope of interest and very few become advanced collectors or true Numismatists without expanding their collecting horizons and or areas of interest.
One must ask the $64 Question- “Where and how does one start collecting Mexican Coins?”
Modern Mexican Coins and Their Influence on Visitors to Mexico
Many Mexican Coin Collectors start collecting because they take a vacation or business trip to Mexico, and are fascinated at the great diversity of the Modern Mexican Coins found circulating throughout Mexico. Many of these visitors pick up a few Mexican coins to take home with them, which are promptly thrown into some cigar or other box upon arriving home and are never looked at again.
A few of these people become interested in Mexico’s fascinating coinage and pursue their interest in Mexican coins later, when they have time to reflect on the interesting coins in their box.
But this interest and its pursuit can be difficult for the beginning collector because it is so difficult for these new collectors to readily find any information about Mexican Coins, unless they are willing to spend a significant amount of their time just looking for good printed information about Mexican coins.
Several of the “serious and advanced collectors” I personally know started collecting Modern Mexican Coins, but were soon able to complete their collections and then moved on to more different and challenging methods of collecting Mexican Coins.
Other Methods of Producing New Mexican Coin Collectors
A few U.S. citizens become interested in collecting Canadian and Mexican coins simply because they are our closest neighbors. Another way U.S. citizens become aware of Mexican “Pieces of Eight” and gold doubloons is through the fictional “treasure tales” of authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson in his classic Treasure Island. Others have been U.S. coin collectors for years who have become disenchanted with collecting U.S. coinage because of the total chaos in the U.S. Coin Market brought on by the unbelievable price differences in slight grade differences and the inability of being able to discern these subtle differences in the ludicrous 70-point grading system brought about by “third-party grading services” that drives the market! I personally fit into this latter category.
What Makes a Collector Collect?
I once had a brilliant scholar tell me, “Collecting is in your genes or it isn’t. Collectors are born and non-collectors will never understand collectors or the collector mentality.”
This could be true, my mother was a collector of several items, and she became an avid U.S. postage stamp collector when I discovered stamp collecting while earning a merit badge in the Cub Scouts. Furthermore, she collected long after I quit, and as a matter of fact she bought stamps for her collection until the week before she died. My youngest daughter also seems to have inherited “some collector genes” as she collects crosses and angels, it’s a shame she has no interest in coins, but her young son shows some interest at the tender age of seven in a small collection he has started because of the Texas Numismatic Association’s youth program.
There are probably as many reasons to collect items as there are collectors, but I find it very interesting that Forbes Magazine features many unusual collectors and the obscure items they collect in this magazine because the Forbes Magazine founder was an incurable collector of many obscure items.
Different people collect for different reasons- some just need something to occupy their free or leisure time while others become interested in some obscure item and can’t find any information about it. A few of these collectors decide to be pioneers in a particular field and end up writing “the authoritative work” on a subject to let the world know just how great collecting these items can be, and to drive up the prices of their collection before selling it.
No matter what you collect, why or how, the key ingredient to any collectable is good written and published information about that collectable!
Good Information and Where to Find It!
One of the first things most novice collectors generally look for is a knowledgeable collector, one who collects the items for which they have an interest! Most novice collectors generally know they need help in their early collecting days, so they try to seek out other more advanced collectors for help in forming their collections.
This first-party one-on-one interplay and information sharing is generally the very best information that a neophyte collector can get because they are learning directly from another interested and more advanced collector. In the late 1800s and early 1900s U.S. coin collectors generally lived in or near the large eastern population centers of those days; New York City; Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore to name a few. These large cities generally had at least one above average coin dealer who sponsored informal weekend collector get-togethers in his showroom. These meetings were attended by all nearby serious collectors and sometimes actually led to the formation of local coin clubs that then became the backbone of U.S. coin collecting during these early years.
Times change, and so did the social and demographic patterns of America. Two world wars and the advent of “international business” soon changed the face of the United States of America, its citizens and its coin collectors. New wealth could now be found in many places, not just in the major eastern cities, and new jobs were created deep inside the borders of United States in order to remove wartime industrial complexes away from the coasts of America for protection against enemy attack.
Giant new industries came about from both world wars, introducing completely new jobs and occupations, thus providing higher wages than ever before and creating a whole new “middle class” of Americans. This new “Middle Class” had something that had been only available to the “very rich” in the past … they now also had leisure time to burn! Hobbies of all types became the new American phenomena in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s because of the many new people with leisure time and some disposable income to spend on their hobbies.
Collecting American Coins Comes of Age
U.S. coin collecting started in earnest during the mid 1850s and saw a great growth in the 1920s and 1930s period because of the marketing savvy of a single Fort Worth coin dealer that was an emigrant cobbler. B. Max Mehl changed the face of U.S. coin collecting by advertising in national magazines and newspapers and he also led the way for coin dealers not located on the eastern seaboard to start and flourish.
Max Mehl probably started the greatest surge ever in creating new U.S. coin collectors with his publication of the Star Coin Book during the 1920s that was the first national coin catalog, with prices, available to the average American for only one dollar. Max Mehl printed millions of these small digest sized books over the next three decades that had people checking their pocket change, and boxes of coins inherited from relatives, for rare coins that Max Mehl wanted to purchase.
No one today can determine how many of these casual collectors became serious or advanced collectors, but many authorities give credit to Max Mehl for creating the “golden era” of U.S. coin collecting that would flourish from the 1930s to the 1960s. His marketing and advertising skills, and his techniques brought him such notoriety that he became the foremost auction house for America’s “great collections” of the period without ever having a public auction. You see Max only sold through “mail auctions”, so his clientele encompassed the entire United States and world.
Today serious and advanced coin collectors live all over America because of B Max Mehl’s vision and passion for selling coins!
Converting Novice and Casual Collectors to Serious Collectors
The biggest hurdle for any collectable is the conversion of the Novice and Casual collector to become a Serious or Advanced collector. Once Max Mehl created new Casual coin collectors he needed help with their conversion to Serious collectors. This help came from Raymond Wayte and Whitman Publishing; they created coin boards for the many different series of U.S. coins found in circulation in America at the time. Both parties also started producing books about specific coin series and catalogs listing the buy and sell prices for many coins.
Once some collectors finished filling their selected coin boards they looked for new challenges and they crossed that “invisible line” to crawl to the next level of coin collecting. This is a common story, and it is my history because my first foray into coin collecting was a blue Whitman Penny Board, which once completed led me to collect U.S. Large Cents and become a Serious collector, like so many others during the 1950s.
On Becoming a Serious or Advanced Mexico Coin Collector
One thing and one thing alone separates the Advanced coin collector from all other collectors, and it is not just a large checkbook! The thirst for knowledge about the coins collected is truly the difference because the Advanced collector wants to know how the coins were made, where they were made, who made them and why some are much rarer than others. This trait defines any Advanced coin collector to my way of thinking.
Very few collectors make the transition from Casual collectors to Serious collectors and fewer still make the switch from Serious collectors to Advanced collectors and even fewer ever become Variety Collectors. But these few Variety Collectors are the people that generally advance the overall knowledge of and about the coins in any series.
Mexican Coin Collecting is still in its infancy today! If one tries to compare it with U.S. coin collecting; it is still deep in “the dark ages” because there has never been a Mexican Coin B. Max Mehl to lead us to that next level of finding new collectors. Today there are very few sources of “good” specialized written materials about any series of Mexican coins. Today we find no proper and informative periodicals that are frequently published and updated in magazine formats or coin catalogs based on actual sales of Mexican coins. What a shame that the old Buttrey and Hubbard guide books of Mexican coins went by the wayside after the 1986 edition. But even these great little works were nothing more than a “price guide” for Mexican coin collectors listing a few of the varieties found in many, and sometimes unavailable grades.
The first “golden age” of good written literature for Mexican Numismatics ended in the 1960s. But a second one, beginning in the late 1990s, seems to be starting with the publication of several new significant works by some new and old authors. These include:
Resplandores by Mike Dunigan and J.B. Parker
Hookneck by Clyde Hubbard and Dave O’Harrow
The Practical Book of Cobs by Frank Sedwick and his son
The Milled Columnarios of Central and South America by Frank F. Gilboy
Gold Coins of the Early Mexican Republic: 1823 - 1873 by Richard A. Long
But just as important are other new works that are currently being compiled by other authors, for publication in the near future on several individual series of Mexican coins.
The Role of the Internet in the Future of Mexican Coin Collecting
The Internet is currently the fastest growing area for the dissemination of information and sales for numismatics (coin collecting), but there are very few websites dealing with any specific area of Mexican numismatics and most of them are small and are part-time enterprises setup to sell coins by a dealer.
The United States of America, with its tremendous wealth and large population, is the single largest market for any and all collectables worldwide. The worldwide numismatics market is huge, and is beginning to reach maturity in some areas. This is illustrated by a record price, for a single coin being publicly sold, which was set in an auction in August 2002 for well over $7,000,000!
All successful collectables markets- [art, coins, stamps, guns, cars, or model trains, etc.] are driven by the same six important factors.
Number One: The first and most important part of this equation is a large group of knowledgeable collectors.
Number Two: There must be multiple sources of good written information, readily available to all collectors and dealers, about any area of collectables. Knowledge about any collectable is the difference between winning and losing, and without this information you cannot have a large group of knowledgeable collectors or very many active specialized dealers.
Number Three: There must be a ready market to sell and purchase these collectables. If there is only one or two places, or ways to sell these collectables this restricts a vibrant ready market.
Number Four: There must be more than one expert ready and willing to help the collector and dealer base determine the values and availability in any area of collecting. Experts are generally current or ex-collectors that have taken the time to research, write, and publish their collecting experiences and findings in their areas of specialized collecting.
Number Five: There must be a group of dealers willing to attend shows, auctions and spend their time with the non-expert collectors who normally need help. If only one or two dealers are active in any area of collectables then it restricts this market. These same dealers must also be willing to spend their money buying these collectables and adding them to their inventories with the end result of making money in a ready market.
Number Six: There must be a vehicle helping create new collectors at all times, in order to build interest and completion for these collectables in the marketplace. I personally believe the greatest tool ever developed for this purpose may be the Internet and specialized websites supplying good information to all levels of collectors and a place where collectors may come together to discuss their coins, much like the old local coin clubs.
Our goal, with our Internet presence, is to help create New Mexican coin collectors! To present the excitement and challenge of collecting Mexican coins to the Casual Mexican coin collectors so some become Serious Mexican coin collectors. To provide the proper drama and the intrigue of collecting Mexican coins so that a few a Serious collectors become Advanced Mexican coin collectors. And finally to stimulate the “collector genes” in those even fewer people who will become the next generation of the exalted Mexican Variety Collectors and the new Mexican Numismatists!
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