During the struggle for Independence in Mexico, these five mints have amazing tales that were expressed in their coinage. A mystery might be finally put to rest as one coin could be proof that a long time numismatic suspicion might be correct.

A lecture given at the Money Show of the Southwest, Houston on December 2009.

A lecture given to the ANA in 2010 reviewing the history of the most common issues of coins and paper money made in Chihuahua, the Federal District, Veracruz and Oaxaca

A lecture given at the Money Show of the Southwest, Houston on December 2012. Ricardo shares his passion and knowledge as he chronicles the creation and distribution of the many different series of silver coin issues of Mexico.

The 50 pesos note of the Banco Comercial de Chihuahua has a vignette of Columbus and a native woman, which represents a truly Hispanic motif. The original version of this vignette was engraved by Charles Burt in 1868. Based on the avatar for the Americas of the allegories of the four continents, the indigenous woman personifies America, while Columbus signifies Europe in general and Spain in particular. Together, they signal the meeting of the New and Old Worlds with America volunteering Spain her resources, a very kindly take on a violent imperial encounter. Building on a tradition of these paired figures, the vignette is modeled after two statues by Revelli in Lima and Genoa, and was likely developed from available photos and/or lithos of the sculptures. The same vignette was employed on a total of nine notes from Spain throughout Latin America, from 1872 to 1898. Always on the front and in primary or secondary position, it was generally used on high- denomination notes, elevating its value. A second version with a ship at left and Spanish arms right, was engraved by Charlton in 1875 for a Spanish note, while other bills utilized either the original variant or variations on the Spanish vignette, adding or subtracting national emblems. The vignette enjoyed a long lifespan, some 30 years on notes, and resuscitated again in the 1970s on a Spanish stock certificate. It also inspired other derivative imagery, from tobacco labels to a Dominican Republic stamp.

The Mexican-American War followed the annexation of Texas by the USA in 1845, and John discusses the impact of the war on Mexico and how it defined boundaries. His presentation reviews numerous medals, including Pope and Taylor and the Gen. Zachary Taylor rare gold mint-struck piece, and several hand engraved, mint-struck and private issues.

Working for many years as a professional numismatist at Stacks-Bowers and Ponterio, on top of being a second generation professional, Kyle gets to see a lot of coins. His presentation dealt with ‘cool’, unusual and new discoveries, unique cobs, klippes, double struck granos, error coins and a few more. He starts with a Carlos and Johanna 1538 off centered strike and some coins shown and described are a Mint error 8 escudo Cob, a mule double die 1814-15 Mo, a Cob Royal presentation 4R 1682-L, and a pillar dollar with inverted date that reads 1872-Mo-FF (rather than 1782). There were too many to list them all, but all shown were very ‘cool’.

The minting of coins began in Brazil in 1694, and, due to scarcity, coins were not allowed to leave the country. Brazil was huge and the mints moved around the country. This was difficult, but three mints were created during this period, with equipment moving in some cases 1,000 miles from mint to mint. The three were Bahia 1695-1698; Rio de Janeiro 1699-1700 and Recife, in the state of Pernambuco, from 1701- 1702. These mints only made gold or silver coins, with silver coinage largely exceeding gold production.

Max outlines the seven types of coinage produced by the Supreme Junta; (1811) Congreso Americano Proclamations, 1811-12 Divided Legend Coinage, 1811-12 Insurgent Cast Coinage, 1812-13 Continuous Legend Coinage, 1813 Nueva Galicia Coinage, 1813 S.J.N.G. AMERICA and (1813) AME-RICA half reales. Each issue is placed in its historical context and the reason for its issuance is discussed.

Awards ceremony at the 2024 USMEX Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona.