(908) Mexican Coin Facts & Figures: Volume 2 Issue 9: Last Revision: 08/02/07

Determining The Rarity of Mexican Coins

By Ralph Poucher

Edited by the Mexican Coin Magic Staff

Most serous Mexican Coin Collectors and Numismatists have to be detectives and have Sherlock Holmes-like traits because of all the mysteries and questions surrounding the coins produced during the Republican Period. Some feel a need to have a better and more complete picture of the specie production in the Mexican mints in order to help them determine which coins are rare, and which are not.

In our last issue of this column (808-Mexican Coin Facts & Figures-- The Official Mexican Mint Records: Republican Silver Production: 1823 to 1888 we continued to uncover some of the inconsistencies, or questions about the “Official Mexican Mint Records”.  During this series of articles we have shown that the basis for all published specie production records for the Mexican Mints seem to originate from two books written by Manuel Orozco y Berra, the first one in 1854 and the second in 1880. Serous collectors of Mexican coins want and need collaborating historical data to confirm mintage figures in order to determine only one thing: The Overall Rarity of Mexican Coins.

Rare is the most over used, and abused word in numismatics today! Every coin ad you read seems to scream the word Rare for any and every coin being sold. So how can a Mexican Coin Collector really tell which coin is Rare, and which is not?

First, we must understand exactly what the word Rare means. Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines the word rare as: (1) not frequently encountered; scarce; unusual (2) unusually good; excellent [a rare scholar] (3) not dense; thin; tenuous [rare atmosphere] (4) [Obs.] not close together; scattered (5) rare² lightly broiled; not completely cooked; underdone; partly raw.

There is one thing that is for sure from these definitions, Rare Mexican coins aren’t lightly broiled nor are partly raw. So we must assume the first definition (not frequently encountered) is the correct usage of the term Rare when dealing with Mexican coins.

Still the word Rare can be subjective when used in numismatics, but more about this later. 

Why Is The Overall Rarity Of Mexican Coins Important?

Let’s face it; Overall Rarity drives the market prices for all collectables. It doesn’t matter what you collect; toy trains, movie posters, trolley tokens, or coins, the overall rarity of item is what costs you more money. Common items are cheap, rare items are more costly. If every item you collect has the same, or equal rarity, what would be the driving force, or challenge to collect the items?

Plain and simple; High Rarity is more desirable and more costly.    

How Can We Determine Which Mexican Coins Are Rare?

Your first, and most logical, option is to study the Overall Rarity of Mexican Coins in published books. These include current coin price catalogs and books written by experts, about specific series of Mexican Coins, which state which coins are rare and which are not.

A second option is to gather records of the sales of individual coins over a period of time. Most serous coin collectors and dealers collect sales records, even if they won’t admit to the fact. These are about the only options Mexican Coin collectors have for judging which coins are rare, and which are not. Let’s take a moment to examine each of these options in order to help you to decide which works best for you. 

Current Coin Pricing Catalogs

New collectors of Mexican coins, in the US, have had some type of pricing catalog for Mexican coins since the late 1950s and early 1960s. Early authors include some of the great Mexican Numismatic Scholars: T.V. Buttrey, Henry Christensen, Frank Grove, Larry Hanks, Clyde Hubbard, Richard A. Long, Neil Utberg, and Dr. George Vogt to name a few. Most new collectors during the 1960s to the 1990s generally seized onto one of these books and it became their “Bible of All Knowledge”.

In 1963 T.V. Buttrey changed the way Mexican Coin Collectors looked at Overall Rarity with his book A Guide Book of Mexican Decimal Coins: 1863 to 1963.

Until this book’s introduction Overall Rarity was generally stated with some type of rarity scale. Buttrey introduced a new type of rarity scale using the “perceived value”, or the cost of a coin in different grades to indicate a coin’s Overall Rarity. This revolutionary way of stating Overall Rarity helped new collectors understand the rarity and value for each Mexican coin in different grades.

The Buttrey System for determining Overall Rarity is a very good system, but it has several drawbacks: (1) it is only as good as the author’s overall knowledge (2) if the sale prices are not updated at least once a year then it is almost useless in later years (3) it requires frequent updates for new additions and changes. If any of the three conditions are missing this system becomes questionable.

In 1969 Buttrey authored the first book devoted to all coins from an independent Mexico, A Guide Book of Mexican Coins: 1822 to Date that became the “standard” catalog for Mexican Coin Collectors. In 1971 Buttrey collaborated with Clyde Hubbard to issue a second edition of The Guide Book that was even better. Soon other authors were using the Buttrey System for their work and it became the standard for all Mexican Coin Catalogs. 

While the Buttrey System for Overall Rarity is good, if frequently updated, it still lacks several things for serous coin collectors. First, it assumes all Mexican Coins can be found in a number of grades, which isn’t always the case. Second, it gives no actual empirical number of the specimens known to exist by grade. For new and casual collectors this isn’t a great problem, but for serous and advanced collectors it leaves a question or two:

1. If a coin is listed as only rare and remains unpriced, what are your chances of ever finding this coin? What should it cost?
2. If you find one of these rare coins, what grade should you expect to find it in?

If the Buttrey System for Overall Rarity isn’t updated frequently what happens to the integrity of the system? From 1971 to 1992 Buttrey and Hubbard issued six new Guide Books and then left the catalog publishing business. From the early 1980s other authors entered the publishing fray and we saw a number of differing opinions about the values and overall rarity for Mexican Coins. Soon a giant emerged and all of the other Mexican Coin Pricing Catalogs disappeared.  Krause Publishing decided all World Coin Collectors needed the Buttrey System so they created a massive catalog directed to the world coin market. Soon the specialized Mexican Coin Pricing Catalogs went by the wayside for many years.  

One can only guess at the number of different coins that have been minted in the past by the world’s mints. A million, or even more would seem to be a good guestimate, but who really knows? Take a minute to think about this. You are a catalog publisher and you make your living producing a new pricing catalog each year. You need updates for about a million coins each year. This requires a massive amount of data entry; some coins may sell hundreds or even thousands of times during a year. Others are so rare that they see no activity during a decade, let alone in one year.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of public coin auctions worldwide each year. There are several hundred worldwide coin dealers who issue Fixed Price Lists (FPLs) during a year. As the publisher of a world coin-pricing catalog how do you gather, correlate, and enter all of these sales into your pricing catalog? Without a staff of several hundred, or may be a thousand people you can’t. It is simple; this is an impossible task!

Therefore, most current world coin pricing catalog publishers have to depend on collectors or dealers to input coin sales data to them to make changes, corrections, or additions to their catalogs. Now ask yourself one question: “When was the last time you were asked to make these inputs?” I bet I can answer this question for 99% of you … NEVER!     

So one must ask another question: How Good Are These Catalogs? 

Normally it doesn’t take a new Mexican Coin Collector long to figure out that there are problems if you depend only on the current coin pricing catalogs to determine which Mexican Coins are rare and which are not.

One can assume that the overall rarity data about Mexican Coins isn’t too good. Let me explain my reasoning behind this assumption. Most current Mexican Coin Pricing Catalogs list the majority of the coins as being available in many grades. So what conclusions can we draw from the data about the Mexican Republic 4 Reales from the data found in the 2007 North American Coins & Prices: A Guide to U.S., Canadian and Mexican Coins published by Krause Publications?

Mexican Republic 4 Reales:

All but a few 4 Reales are listed in four grades: (1) Fine (2) Very Fine (3) Extra Fine (4) Uncirculated

This catalog doesn’t list any Mexican Republic 4 Reales in lower grades, yet some are currently unknown in grades of Fine or better. This catalog lists no Mexican Republic 4 Reales in Brilliant Uncirculated even though there are several hoard dates that show up occasionally in this grade. The vast majority of the Mexican Republic 4 Real DAMs (Date/Assayer/Mintmark) are shown as available in Uncirculated and most are priced at $600 in this grade. Yes, I know there are a few listed at higher prices, and a few that aren’t shown in Uncirculated, but they are the exception and not the rule.

• Most Mexican Republic 4 Reales are Common in all grades.
• All but 61 Uncirculated Mexican Republic 4 Reales can be purchased for $600
• Catorce: All Catorce 4 Reales are rarer than average, Uncirculated coins cost from $4,000 to $6,000 depending on variety.
• Culiacan: Some Culiacan 4 Reales are Very Common in low grades costing as little as $25, others are Very Rare costing $1,250 in Uncirculated   
• Guadalajara: Most early (1843 to 1849) Guadalajara 4 Reales are Common in all grades with prices from $20 to $40 in Fine to only $600 for Uncirculated specimens. From 1850 to 1863 all Guadalajara 4 Reales become rarer in varying degrees; all but three are available in Uncirculated. The rarest Guadalajara 4 Reales in Uncirculated grades are the two G^A 1863 JG varieties priced at $7,500 each.
• Guadalupe y Calvo: All 4 Reales from this mint are much rarer than average. Only one DAM is available in Uncirculated, the GC 1845 MP and it costs $9,000. Prices range from $500 to $3,000 in Fine to $6,000 in Extra Fine for different DAMs.
• Guanajuato: All but two 4 Reales from this mint are Very Common with prices from $400 to $600 for Uncirculated specimens. Both varieties of the 1841 Guanajuato 4 Reales are Very Rare with prices of $1,500 and $1,250. All Guanajuato 4 Reales except the 1841 should be found in Extra Fine for $100 or less.
• Hermosillo: Two DAMs are listed: H^O 1861 FM and H^O 1867 PR; the first is somewhat rarer than the second, but both are available in Uncirculated grades for only $2,500.
• Mexico City: All Mexico City 4 Reales are rare, some much more than others. Four are unpriced in the catalog indicating the highest level of rarity. However, all but five DAMs are available in grades of Uncirculated costing from $1,000 to $1,500.
• Oaxaca: All three varieties of the O 1861 FR are rarer than average. Two varieties are available in Uncirculated with prices of $2,750 and $2,850.
• San Luis Potosi: All Potosi 4 Reales are rarer in Uncirculated grades than average with prices ranging form $650 to $2,000 and all but eight are available in this grade.  Three DAMs are unpriced indicating the highest level of rarity, and three are listed as unavailable in grades of Extra Fine or better.      
• Zacatecas: All but two Zacatecas 4 Reales are Very Common with prices of only $600 for Uncirculated specimens.

Mexican Republic 1 Escudos:

All but a few 1 Escudos are listed in four grades: (1) Very Good (2) Fine (3) Very Fine (4) Extra Fine None are listed in Uncirculated or higher grades. This catalog doesn’t list any Mexican Republic 1 Escudos in higher grades, yet several are currently known in grades of Uncirculated and Brilliant Uncirculated.  Here are the conclusions one might draw from the catalog:

• Most Mexican Republic 1 Escudo DAMs (Date/Assayer/Mintmark) are shown as available to Extra Fine and are priced at $150 to $350 in this grade. There are only four unpriced 1 Escudo DAMs indicating the highest level of rarity.
• Culiacan: Most of the 1 Escudos from Culiacan are slightly harder to find than other 1 Escudos in Extra Fine and are priced from $175 to $350, but all can be found. 
• Durango: Three of the unpriced 1 Escudos are from Durango indicating the highest level of rarity. All of the others are available in Extra Fine and are priced from $200 to $300.
• Guadalajara: The remaining unpriced 1 Escudo (G^A 1829 FS) is found here. All of the other Guadalajara 1 Escudos are found in Extra Fine with prices ranging from $200 to $325.
• Guadalupe y Calvo: All (eight) of the 1 Escudos are Common and priced at $250 in Extra Fine.
• Guanajuato: All six 1 Escudos from this mint are Common and priced at $200 in Extra Fine except the G^O 1860 PF which is listed at $300.
• Mexico City: All 1 Escudos from Mexico City are Very Common carrying prices of $150 to $175 in Extra Fine.
• Zacatecas: All three DAMs are listed as Slightly Scarce with price tags from $200 to $300 in Extra Fine.   

Wow, you can determine a lot of information about Mexican Coins just by studying the above-mentioned catalog. But one must also ask another question; How Good is this Information?

Let’s look at several examples of the data provided compared to our findings to see just how good the information found in the 2007 North American Coins & Prices: A Guide to U.S., Canadian and Mexican Coins really is?

Mexican Republic 4 Reales:

My personal experience with 4 Reales is limited, I have been studying them for only a couple of years, but I have contacted several serous and advanced collectors about their experiences and the coins in their collections. Each has freely given of their time, and each has shared their collections with us in order to increase our knowledge about these coins.

Most of these collectors feel that truly Uncirculated 4 Reales are as rare as hen’s teeth. One of these advanced collectors stated, “Any Mexican Republic 4 Reales collection containing ten Uncirculated 4 Reales is a world-class collection!” This should give you some indication about the Overall Rarity of 4 Reales in this grade. Most of these collectors agree with this statement, “Any Republican 4 Reales, even the most common, truly graded as Uncirculated is worth at least $1,500”. Strike One.

Until the most recent issue of 2007 North American Coins & Prices: A Guide to U.S., Canadian and Mexican Coins Krause listed several very questionable 4 Real DAMs. The latest issue has only one of these remaining: the Zacatecas Z^S 1830 OM. Most collectors feel this coin doesn’t exist because there are no verified Zacatecas coins with Assayer OM until 1831. The newest catalog indicates this 4 Real is available in all four grades normally listed, and is priced as a Common Zacatecas 4 Real. If this coin truly exists it is one of, if not, the rarest coin in the series and would probably be worth at least $25,000 in any grade. Strike Two.

There are several 4 Reales that have been known to exist for years that aren’t listed in the current Krause catalog. Strike Three.

Additionally there are many (well over 100 DAMs) that are currently unknown in grades of Extra Fine or better at any price. Strike Four. 

And this is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ with the 4 Real problems in this catalog.

Mexican Republic 1 Escudos:

Generally speaking the Mexican Republic 1 Escudo was not a popular denomination like the ½ Escudo or 8 Escudo and is much harder to find. However, several Republican Mints created 1 Escudos in many years, even though the numbers minted seem to be rather small.    

The highest grade listed for 1 Escudos in the 2007 North American Coins & Prices: A Guide to U.S., Canadian and Mexican Coins is only Extra Fine. Yet this coin is found many times more often than the 4 Reales in Uncirculated or better grades.  Strike One.

The highest value, or price, listed in this catalog for any Republican 1 Escudo is only $350 for a Zacatecas Z^S 1860/59 VL variety with an inverted A in place of the V in the assayer’s initial. They also list a Normal variety for this DAM at only $200. All of the prices listed in this catalog for 1 Escudos, except the most common ones in low grades, are a joke.  Recently I paid over $3,000 for a Durango D^O 1861 CP that is shown as a Very Common 1 Escudo with a high price of only $225. I have sales records of only three coins for this DAM. Strike Two.   

Off the 99 different Mexican Republic 1 Escudo DAMs, I have identified in my research, 76 are rated Extremely Rare or a solid 6 on the FoxLair True Rarity Scale indicating that 15 or less specimens are currently verified. Only four 1 Escudos are unpriced in our subject catalog indicating this level of rarity. Strike Three.

All 15 Culiacan 1 Escudo DAMs listed in the 2007 North American Coins & Prices: A Guide to U.S., Canadian and Mexican Coins are shown as Common. However, my research shows only two that can be found with any regularity; all of the others are at least Extremely Rare. Strike Four.

These four examples of problems with the 1 Escudo listings in the 2007 North American Coins & Prices: A Guide to U.S., Canadian and Mexican Coins are only a few that could be used.

Is there any doubt today why serous Mexican coin collectors discount the accuracy of this catalog?

Specialized Coin Books

Specialty coin books have long been a part of collecting Mexican Coins. Howland Wood, Coinage of the Mexican Revolutionists (1934), authored the first specialized book that I have found. And the last one is 2 Escudos of the Republic of Mexico: 1825-1870 by Rob Rollo released in 2007.  In between these two are several books that need to be in each collector’s reference library, if they have any interest in the Mexican Coins covered by each author. See the accompanying chart (908c) for a list of books that you should consider for your library.

Almost all of these books generally use some type of Rarity Scale to determine the rarity of the coins covered, some are very good, and others are questionable.

Keeping Records of Coin Sales

This is probably the best method for determining the Overall Rarity of Mexican Coins, but it is also the hardest to properly do. Some Mexican Coin Collectors use a short time span (three to four years) while trying to establish a sales pattern for overall rarity. This is an impossible task because many Mexican coins aren’t seen in public sales for decades, or longer. In fact, there are more than a few that have never been seen in public sales!

In order to ‘accurately’ track the sales of Mexican Coins one must study sales from all over the world because Mexican Coins show up worldwide. These include public auctions and coin dealer’s Fixed Price Lists (FPLs) that are sometimes more than difficult to find. Since January 2007 I have personally spent over $3,000 buying old auction catalogs and FPLs in order to trace sales of just Mexican Republic coins. I have also received almost 100 new auction catalogs from auction houses in this same period of time. This will give you some inkling of how expensive and time consuming this process really is, if you do it properly.

The reason behind the collection of all of these sales and this data is a Population Study I’m doing, and have been doing since the early part of 1986. I’m personally only interested in Mexican Republic (1823 to 1905) coins, so I collect only this sales data. The earliest catalog in my reference library is dated 1878 and the last one is from July of 2007. In total I have a list of over 5,000 catalogs, of which I have personally collected data from 3,904 catalogs and FPLs. I have another 500+ auction catalogs and FPLs waiting to be studied … when I have time.

Today, The FoxLair Mexican Republic Gold Population Study contains data about the sales of 23,663 individual coins from all ten denominations of Mexican Republic Gold Coins. To my knowledge this is by far the largest database ever accumulated for and about these coins.

Even with all of this work, and money spent, The FoxLair sales records are incomplete! Since time began some Mexican coins have been sold in Private Treaty Sales only. It is impossible for me, or any other numismatic researcher, to find or have access to all of these Private Treaty Sales records. Therefore, no population study will ever have all of the data needed to be 100% accurate. But something, even flawed, is many times better than nothing at all.

Rarity Scales

I’m sure there are at least a hundred coin rarity scales in use in numismatics today. It seems like each author whoever wrote a book about collecting coins created one that is unique. Most are well thought out and were created with good intentions, but most have limitations for coins not covered in the author’s work.

Probably the most famous rarity scale in use today is the one invented by Dr William H. Sheldon for the Early US Large Cents many years ago. Just in case you have never seen the original Sheldon Rarity Scale here it is as it appeared in the 1976 edition of Penny Whimsy:

The Sheldon Rarity Scale for Early American Cents

• R-1            Common

• R-2             Not So Common

• R-3            Scarce

• R-4             Very Scarce (Population estimated at 76-200)

• R-5             Rare (31-75)

• R-6             Very Rare (13-30)

• R-7             Extremely Rare (4-12)

• R-8            Unique or Nearly Unique (1,2, or 3)*

*In this book R-8 will indicate that not more than three examples have been reported or are known outside of, or in addition to, the permanently impounded collection in the museum of the American Numismatic Society. 

This was, and still is a pretty simple rarity scale. Today it has sorta become ‘The Standard’ for determining the rarity of all US Coins. But Sheldon didn’t stop here, nor did he intend for his rarity scale to be used for any coinage other the Early US Large Cents.

Sheldon knew that overall rarity wasn’t the only contributing factor to the value of coins, a second factor was almost as important. This second factor was the rarity of a specific coin “in grade”. During the “Dark Ages” (pre-1950) of coin collecting grade wasn’t as important as it is today. In the ole days collectors didn’t fight for a MS-66 coin because a Very Fine, or even a nice trouble-free Fine was about as good as could be expected for the average collector. Those must have been the fun days! Collectors would get together on the weekends to show their coins to other collectors, and all of them would bring their collections so that full attributions and comparisons could be made.      

Dr. Sheldon worked out a complicated value index (for Early US Large Cents only) whereby collectors of Early US Large Cents could establish a value for Large Cents to be bought and sold. In fact, he took over five (pgs. 44 to 49) pages in Penney Whimsy to explain Value as Related to Care and Treatment of Large US Cents and his theories about these important considerations. Sheldon also started the use of a 70 Point Grading Scale for determining grade versus value. It took over ten pages to completely define his system, which was almost outdated before it was published.    

I would like to establish the fact that the Sheldon System for Rarity and Grade Rarity was intended for Early US Large Cents only before we go any further.    

How Important Is Grade Rarity?

If the grades of the coins in your collection are unimportant to you then Grade Rarity is a mute point. However, if you love beautiful coins … Grade Rarity is very important to you.

Grading Systems & Standards

Today grading has become the “In Thing” in US Coins. One higher grading point can be worth as little as $10 or as much as a $100,000, or even more! Therefore grading US coins has become a very large business! Some might even call it an ‘Industry’ because it is so large and there are so many Third Party Grading Services (TPGs).

In Issue#8 of Mexican Coin Magic (The Soap Box: Third Party Grading: Is It The Future of Mexican Numismatics Too?)  I gave you my personal opinion of TPGs and the problems associated with them, so I won’t go there again.

However, most collectors I have talked to recently, since that article, seem to think third party grading is going to be the future of Mexican Numismatics no matter what we want. I just hope that if that is true, they will be more consistent with their grading.

Nonetheless, I feel it is important for all Mexican Coin Collectors to have some idea of which coins can normally be found, and what grades you can set as a target for purchase. One time, “long-a-go” I purchased an extremely rare low-grade Guanajuato 8 Escudo in a public auction for a very high price. Three months later the very same auction house offered the exact same coin in Extra Fine, and it sold for a fraction of what I paid for my specimen. To say I was pissed would be an understatement!

It was like someone turning on the lights in a dark room. This occurrence caused me to start gathering information about all Mexican Republican coins in grade. Since then Grade Rarity has become an important part of my personal population study of Mexican Republic Coins.

The FoxLair Rarity and Grading Scales

When I began my studies of Mexican Republic Coins I tried to use the Sheldon Rarity and Grading System, but I soon realized it wouldn’t work for the coins I was interested in. So I started (like most other writers and researchers) my own system. Over the years I tinkered with my system, finally I determined that two different systems were needed for Mexican Republic Coins: one for gold coins and the other for silver coins.

Here are the two FoxLair rarity scales:

[908a] The FoxLair Mexican Republic Silver Coin True Rarity Scale^©

[908b] The FoxLair Mexican Republic Gold Coin True Rarity Scale^©

I hope you will find them useful.

In Conclusion

Rarity of any coin is a subjective term. If there are four coins available, but only two collectors seeking the coins, can the coins be considered Rare? Probably not. But if there are six collectors looking for the coin, then one must consider it to be Rare. So the term Rare, when used in numismatics, is still an enigma. Without a doubt … any coin that has a smaller number of examples in the marketplace than there are collectors vying for it has to be consider Rare. If you find this preliminary discussion about the overall rarity interesting and want more information about the rarity of Mexican coins let us know by contacting us by email at www.MCManswers.com and we will try to help you.

After all of these words and personal opinions it’s now time to have a little fun. Mexican coin collectors generally have to be puzzle solvers, so how about trying to solve five short puzzles just for the fun of it? Below are a series of scans of two coins each. One of each pair is an extreme rarity; the other is a more common coin even though it may also be a great rarity. Can you tell which is rarest and which is not? Remember to consider the grade rarity of each coin when trying to solve these puzzles.  

Puzzle #A:

Our first pair of coins are [1] a San Luis Potosi P^I 1857 PS 4 Reales and [2] a Culiacan C 1861 PV 1 Escudo, which is the rarest coin?

Puzzle #B:

The second pair of coins: [1] a Mexico City M^o 1848 GC 4 Escudo versus [2] a Hermosillo H^o 186I FM error date 8 Reales, which is the rarest coin?

Puzzle #C:

The third pair of coins: [1] a Durango D^o 1836 RL 8 Escudo versus [2] a Guadalupe y Calvo GC 1852 MP 8 Reales, which is the rarest coin?

Puzzle #D:

Our fourth pair of coins: [1] a Mexico City M^o 1824 JM Hookneck 2 Reales versus [2] a Culiacan C 1848 CE 4 Escudo, which coin is the rarest?

Puzzle #E:

Our fifth and final pair of coins: [1] a Durango D^o 1875 M 10 Peso versus [2] a Chihuahua C^A 1845 RG ½ Real, which coin is the rarest?

The answers will be found at the end of Front Page of the next issue, so don’t peek until you have finished solving all of the puzzles.

Until next time… good luck finding that rare Mexican coin that will become the ‘star’ of your collection.

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