Dr. A. J. Pradeau the father of Mexican Numismatics

Today there is a single candidate for the father of Mexican Numismatic writers- Doctor A. .J. Pradeau! Yes, there were earlier writers, for instance Howland Wood, who published works in 1921, 1923 and 1928, but Pradeau wasn’t far behind with his 1934 introduction of the Mexican mints in Alamos and Hermosillo that gave the history of the mints, production figures and many interesting facts about the people behind these two mints. This first work was just the beginning of a long line of great numismatic speeches, articles, monographs, and books that the esteemed dentist and Mexican chronicler would create over the next 30+ years when he finally ended his writing career. Many years ago I had the privilege of buying several books from Pradeau’s library and from the many notes scribbled in these volumes I can only assume he intended to write more before his death.

Doctor Pradeau was not only a great writer but he was also a great man and a serious collector of Mexican Numismatic items. Over the years I have heard collectors and dealers criticize some of Pradeau’s works and his small and rather limited collection of Mexican coins. Yes, there may be some errors, a few miss-attributions and oversights in his books and articles, but one should also not over-look that he was one of the first to tackle the complex Mexican numismatic history! The overall depth and coverage of his writing is beyond compare even today. I challenge anyone to point a finger at Pradeau’s works when compared to their total output or even the entire writing of all other authors in the field of Mexican Numismatics since Pradeau. I hope to be able to cover Pradeau’s Mexican coin collection in depth at a later date and I’m sure there will be a few surprises here too, because I have it on good authority that many of Dr. Pradeau's gold coins have never been seen at public auction.

Today this article is about Pradeau the writer and not the man or collector, so we will begin, as mentioned earlier, with his 1934 ANS #63 monograph titled The Mexican Mints of Alamos and Hermosillo. Dr. Pradeau had one benefit no other writer will ever have when he pinned his work on these two mints, there was at least one surviving member of the Hermosillo mint staff still alive and Pradeau interviewed him before the monograph was written. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read this work I would highly recommend you find a copy or if you read Spanish well, it was reprinted again with some additions and changes in Spanish in 1959.

Dr. Pradeau’s Numismatic History of Mexico from the Pre-Columbian epoch to 1823 was first printed in 1938 and is still the classic work for early history of Mexican numismatics. This second work covered Mexican money and its history up to the formation of the Mexican Republic. But these works were only the forerunner for his greatest contribution that would begin to be published in 1957 in a monumental series of four volumes.

The series started with Volume 1, Historia Numismatica de Mexico de 1823 to 1950 Cecas de: Mexico y Tlalpam that was published by the Sociedad Numismatica de Mexico in 1957. Somewhere I read that only 500 copies of each volume were printed and all of them were printed in Spanish. It is a shame that no one has ever done an English translation of this series because they are literally packed with information that cannot be found anywhere else to my knowledge. In my library I also have a copy of a private edition of plates of the Sonora mints Erma Stephens gave a collector in 1961 that were published in 1959. I do not know if this was part of the regular series or not.

Volume 2, Historia Numismatica de Mexico de 1823 to 1950 Cecas de: Hermosillo, Alamos, Catorce, Chihuahua, Culiacan y Durango was published in 1960.

Historia Numismatica de Mexico de 1823 to 1950 Cecas de: Guadalajara, Guadalupe y Calvo, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi y Zacatecas was Volume 3 and was printed in 1961.

Volume 4, Illustraciones was dated 1958, but I believe it was actually printed later, and it contains many illustrations of many rare coins and trial strikes that were in Dr. Pradeau’s collection.

Each chapter about the individual mints starts with some basic history about the towns and general areas around the mints. Next he gives a historical review of each mint sighting some officials and important documents relating to the mint. Where possible Pradeau lists the production figures from each mint.

This entire series of four books are out of print and thus rare, these books generally command prices ranging from $200 to $500 a set and even more, when they can be found. As of this moment nothing reviles the information that can be found in the series and even though there are many new books about Mexican numismatics in the works, none will ever cover the scope of Dr. Pradeau’s work.

While these are the better-known works of Pradeau, he also wrote numerous articles and made presentations to numismatic groups all over the world on and about different phases of Mexican history and numismatics. Yes, beyond a doubt Dr. Alberto Francisco Pradeau was the “Father of Mexican Numismatics” and is still recognized as one of its greatest historians.

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