(06b) Mexican Coin Views & Reviews: Volume 1 Issue 1: Last Revision: 07/27/02
Something New- Books and catalogs less than 25 years old or new
Richard Doty has to be one of the greatest living numismatic historians and technical writers of our time and his latest book, The Soho Mint & the Industrialization of Money, is one of his best and more interesting works. While the main theme of the book is the Soho Mint, Boulton, Watt & Company (BW&C) and the personalities therein, Chapter 7- Mexico: Five Mints and their stories, makes this book a “must have” for the serious Mexican Republic coin collector.
This single chapter- less than 30 pages, contains photos of only seven coins, no prices, no varieties or grading, no long lists, and the full price ($75.00) may seem a bit steep for the average Mexican collector. But for serious students of Mexico’s mints, coins and history during the Republican Period, the book is easily worth its price. Doty sheds not just a tiny light on the intricate workings of the mints, but clicks on the full spotlight! He reveals many interesting facts and introduces a few of the backroom deals and people that led to the heavy foreign influences and their deep involvement in Mexican coin manufacturing during the early days of the republic.
This is not meant to detract from the relevance of the book’s other nine chapter’s in any way. For the stories Doty weaves about Matthew Boulton, his erstwhile partner James Watt and Boulton’s son are almost as good reading as the Mexican chapter, but may not captivate the Mexican collector’s attention for long.
The trials and tribulations of BW&C’s encounters while dealing with the Mexicans is a cake walk, when compared to those of the other British Nationals who are some of the driving forces behind several mints. Doty makes these situations come alive with quotes from old documents and correspondence taken directly from BW&C’s and several museum’s archives. Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of what you can expect to find in his book by mint.
A British group took control of the Guanajuato Mint very early; the Anglo Mexican Mint Association who had close ties with another British group, the Anglo Mexican Mining Association. These two groups had ties with a third and fourth group who somehow commissioned Boulton, Watt & Company to build a new steam powered mint for Guanajuato that could never work in that location. The new mint’s entire manufacturing took place in record time for a BW&C project, but ended up rusting away for over 10 years in a BW&C warehouse before most of the equipment was finally sold and delivered. According to Doty at least part of the equipment ended being sold to John Potts who had been involved early with the Guanajuato Mint before going elsewhere.
However for today’s Mexican collectors the most important items made by BW&C for Guanajuato weren’t minting machinery but the hubs, master dies, and working dies that were produced at the Soho mint! I won’t spoil the story for you by telling you what happened or why, only that it is one of the more interesting smuggling tales I’ve encounter in years of research.
BW&C’s hopes for producing a new steam powered mint in Mexico go back to Colonial times, in fact as early as 1789 there were talks between Boulton, Sr. and Spanish officials about the construction of a new mint here. Again in 1814 and even after the establishment of the new Republican Government talks went on about constructing new equipment for the Mexico City Mint, but Doty can find no records indicating any transaction ever took place. Richard does introduce us to some other key British players in the saga of foreign influence in this section, including Barclay, Herring, Richardson & Company who’s employees would later play a big part in several mints.
Today it appears that BW&C did deliver at least one almost complete mint in Mexico, but it was not a high tech mint as they had hoped. I want to deliver just enough information to whet your appetite, so that you will read the book. This story of Culiacan is full of intrigue and will prove just how important the people at the individual mints were.
Our old friend from Guanajuato, John Potts, shows up here in the late 1830s as a principal in another British company, Kelly & Company. Doty tells us of his visit to the Soho Mint in 1839 with the sole purpose of ordering some specific dies. You see Mr. Potts wants to start minting a new denomination in Chihuahua for the first time, he is requesting dies be made for doubloons. Once you realize Potts has connections with both mints in Guanajuato and Chihuahua you may be able to guess what happens, even before Doty spells it out, if you are a good detective?
Richard spends little time or effort on this mint, but introduces another key British player into the mix, Manning & Marshall who have a direct connection to and with that most illustrious Mexican personage- General Santa Anna. I would like to quote Doty’s second sentence of his introduction to Zacatecas, “Having greased the palm of dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Manning & Marshall had been granted a fourteen-year contract to manage the Zacatecas facility in the autumn of 1842”. Enough said?
Richard goes on to tell us that business was conducted between Mexico and Soho for some sixty years, but I assure you that the vast majority of the British shadow world players didn’t last that long. Mexican Coin Magic. com will give you a better and more complete picture of these many players, their roles and what became of them later in our series of articles “Untold Stories”. I’m sure these articles will help you better understand the problems and resulting solutions the Mexican Government took to rebuild their war-torn country. But don’t forget to buy, beg or steal a copy of this book or maybe your local library will have a copy you can borrow?
I give this book a 4.5 Star Rating on a 5 Star Scale, only because it has only one chapter about Mexico. Other than that, it is a great tale of how a few people had a giant impact on the manufacturing of coins in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Doty is one of our better numismatic writers today and spins an incredible story.
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