Out of the Darkness...

Excerpts

from

The Ultimate Mexican Republic Gold Pesos Handbook©

We would like to give you a tiny taste of the flavor and content of our first little Handbook, so you can begin to understand why we think it will be a good read and become an indispensable tool for new and old collector alike.

Part 1: How, What and Why We Collect

Is it worthwhile to collect the Republicans?

This is a question each collector has to answer on his or her own. Each collector should examine his motives for collecting any and all coins.  Each person should do some soul searching before beginning to collect Mexican coins, so ask yourself the following questions:

Why are you collecting coins?

What are your coin collecting goals?

How long is your collecting life going to last?

Do you intend to be only a casual coin collector?

Do you simply want to fill holes in your collection?

Or do you want to become a serious or even an advanced collector?

Or will you become a Mexican Numismatist?

… Does finding a new, uncataloged and unpublished coin get you cranked up? 

What does it cost to collect the Republicans?

Mexican Republican coins can be purchased today (2005) for less than $10 each for some well worn and circulated minor silver reales or you may be required to spend several thousand dollars for extreme rarities in high-grade in this series.  You can spend less than $50 for circulated gold minor escudos or as much as $10,000 for high-grade rarities… 

Part Two: The Mexican Republic Mints

Mysteries and questions still surround each Republican mint. Today some questions have answers, while other perplexing questions remain. I think it is essential for Mexican coin collectors to know something about the mints-- what styles and denominations each produced, the important people involved with them, and some of the unanswered questions-- so that they can become more knowledgeable collectors.     

The Catorce Mint

The first mint operations in Catorce then referred to as Real Del Catorce, date back to 1811 during the War of Independence when Spanish authorities authorized a temporary Royalist mint that coined crude 8 Reales that are extreme rarities today.  The area around Catorce, in the State of San Luis Potosi, was a very rich silver mining area beginning in the colonial era and continued to be well into the late Republican Period.

The Republican Mint at Catorce went into production during 1863, and like several others mints there are indications of fraud here too. The Catorce Mint rankled high officials in the State of San Luis Potosi because they saw it as competition for the mint located in the state’s capitol.  Most Mexican Historians and Numismatists believe these two factors led to the Catorce Mint’s demise.  I find it rather unusual that the “Official Mint Records” completely ignore this mint, there are no published figures for any silver or gold production from this mint.  Could this be another reason it was closed early?

Part Three: The Mexican Republic Gold 1 Pesos

The Mexican Republic Gold 1 Pesos, Mexico’s later equivalent of the U.S. 1 gold dollar piece was produced sporadically in the Alamos, Chihuahua, Culiacan, Guanajuato, Hermosillo, Mexico City and Zacatecas mints from 1870 until 1905 and several of these mints made very limited numbers of these tiny coins.  Of all the Republican gold coins, the gold 1 Peso seems to have the largest collector base today.  These tiny coins are among the easiest to find for the beginning collector of Mexican gold coins in today’s market, thus are the simplest to start collecting. While not as common as the 8 Escudos, they are the second most numerous gold coins of the entire Republican Period.  Another big advantage this series offers the beginner and average collector is that the more common coins sell for ridiculously low prices today.  But beware, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t some Classic Rarities, Hidden Rarities, and “One Year Type Coins” in this series.  These coins generally sell for high premiums and the Gold 1 Peso series has more than its fair share of these highly desirable coins, only the Republican 8 Escudos and 8 Reales have more.

Today (2005) we see the average prices for the more common gold 1 Pesos range from under $100 to a high of $150 for grades from Fine to Extra Fine or slightly better.  Moving up the grading scale, the prices increase to a maximum of about $200 for the more common almost Uncirculated coins and top out at around $300 for Choice Mint State examples.  Some of the moderately rare coins in this series see prices escalate to well over $1,500, but these are still bargain-basement prices when you consider the gold 1 Pesos’ availability, overall rarity, condition rarity and current prices when compared to the equally rare U.S. Gold Dollars.  These small gold coins are still one of today’s better bargains for Mexican Republic gold coins, even though prices paid can reach over $10,000 or more for a few obscenely rare high-grade Classic Rarities, Hidden Rarities, and “One Year Type Coins”. 

Yes, I know what the current crop of catalogs say about prices, but they are frequently wrong!

Part Eight: The Mexican Republic Gold Peso DAM Rarity & Checklists

I hope this small sample is enough to peak your interest?

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