The FoxLair
Republic of Mexico Comprehensive Price Guides©
The Two Most Frequently Asked Questions about Mexican Coins
One of the neatest things about the Mexican Coin Magic website is finding new Mexican coin collectors that we didn’t know before from all over the world. Many of these collectors are old-timers, who have collected for many years, but a few are brand new collectors and they provide the most exciting and rewarding part of our endeavor. They have countless questions, just like we did when we first started collecting Mexican coins.
However, the two most often intelligent questions asked are:
Both questions are the essence for collecting Mexican coins, and are worries for even the oldest and most seasoned veteran. The first question can be answered rather easily; always buy the highest-grade coin you can afford, when multi grades are available.
The second question is more troublesome to answer. Years ago, once I started getting serous about collecting Mexican coins it didn’t take me long to realize there were problems trying to determine what coins were common and which ones were rare. It also soon became apparent that even though many catalogs listed the values for almost all Mexican coins in grades from Fine to Uncirculated, some were simply unavailable in grades over Fine to Very Fine.
Being in the computer business, I soon started using a computer spreadsheet for my coin collecting. I tried devising a formula for determining the value of the Mexican Republican 8 Reales and 8 Escudos. After talking to a statistician on our staff I understood that what I needed was a giant database of all past Mexican coin sales in order to arrive at the current values and rarity of these coins. This was the reason I began the FoxLair Sales and Population Survey©; I needed this data to plug into my value charts.
After many years of hiccups and false starts I finally devised what I thought was a good system. I did this in response to the “Code of Silence” that still exists in Mexican Numismatics. Over the years I have shared many things with other collectors and dealers I supposed were my friends, but until now I have never shared these charts with anyone because they were my personal buying guides.
Now, because I’m no longer an active collector, I have decided to share them with the entire Mexican Numismatic Community. This is another way of helping to crack the “Code of Silence”, which I personally feel has retarded Mexican coin collecting. Please understand that these charts have been and are still, my personal guide for determining not only what prices I was willing to pay, but also enabled me to find what I believe are the bargain coins. In other words, if a coin is priced much lower by grade and rarity than shown on my chart it indicated a serous buy potential for me. Over the years I have constantly updated the data in these charts and have made significant changes. Oh bye the way, this was not an original idea, I stole it from another author, Dr. William Sheldon, who used something similar for U.S. Large Cents. Dr. Sheldon also introduced a 70-point grading system for U.S. Large Cents, which eventually led to many problems, in my opinion, for all U.S. coin collectors when the Third Party Grading Services adopted his grading system for all U.S. coinage.
A few simple items and rules need to be kept in mind about these charts:
The current free samples of the FoxLair Republican 8 Reales and 8 Escudos charts are based on a spot gold price of $405 an ounce and silver at $5.25 an ounce, thus causing the basal or base prices to vary somewhat. These free samples use fixed formulas; and you will be unable to enter or change any variables. However, the charts available later for a fee for all Mexican Republic Coin Series, will allow you to change the variables so that you can customize your own charts to suit yourself.
I hope you find this information helpful!
[09b] Go to Sample FoxLair 8 Escudos Comprehensive Price Guide©
[09c] Go to Sample FoxLair 8 Reales Comprehensive Price Guide©
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