We first visited the subject of “setting collecting strategies” in Mexican Coin Magic in Volume 1 Issue 5 (504 Selecting A Collecting Strategy) when I asked six current Mexican Coin Collectors to share their collecting strategies with our readers. Since that article appeared, almost two years ago, much has happened in Mexican Numismatics. I believe it is time to revisit this important subject because we now have many more readers, and a great number of them are new to the field of Mexican Numismatics.
Personally I believe we are entering a new “golden age” for Mexican Numismatics. As we have stated here several times before: “We are now beginning to see many new Mexican coins, from worldwide sources, making their way to the public market for three reasons: (1) The Internet has provided a new easy to use outlet (sales place) unavailable only ten years ago (2) Prices for Mexican coins are finally advancing after many years of less than stellar performance (3) New information about Mexican coins is beginning to be published on both the Internet and in book form. This increased activity has fueled the demand for all Mexican Republic coins, especially the Republican Gold and Cap & Ray 8 Reales. Yet some series of Mexican coins are still languishing in darkness. Shouldn’t you take advantage of this situation before the new golden age becomes a steamroller?
The lifeblood for any and all collectables is the new collector. It is difficult, no almost impossible, for new hobbyists to collect something and become more than casual collectors if there is no information easily found by these new collectors. On the other hand if new collectors have decent information about their areas of interest they can spend their money with confidence. However, if new collectors have little or no published information about their areas of interest, it is hard to become fully engrossed in any collectable.
Over the years I have been astounded at the number of these Mexican Coin Collectors who have had little, or no overall strategy for their collecting. Some started collecting Mexican Coins by accident. More than a few have been past collectors of US coins and were attracted to Mexican Coins simply because they were so cheap. Others were tired of the grading and pricing fiasco that currently plagues US coins. Several have told me they loved to collect affordable rarities, and Mexican Coins fit that bill. Others, like me, have been fascinated by the great number of different styles and varieties that occur in Mexican Coins. One prominent collector told me he started collecting Mexican Coins when he found several in the cash register of the business he owned. Other collectors can’t seem to put a finger on why they were originally attracted to Mexican Coins.
I have met many strict Type Collectors in different categories, some avid DAM (Date/Assayer/Mintmark) collectors, a couple of Date only collectors by series, six or seven assayer collectors by series, three Choice Mint State only coin collectors, and a smidgeon of variety collectors. Most of these collectors had some kind of strategy for collecting Mexican Coins. But by far the largest group of the Mexican Coin Collectors I have personally met haven’t had any collecting strategy.
This gentleman had a collecting strategy that would not work for Mexican Republic Coins no matter how large his budget was, so he became disinterested. I wonder how many other new collectors have “gone by the wayside” because of this problem of disinformation caused them to set an unrealistic goals?
My agenda isn’t hidden and it is simple. Informed collectors are better collectors. If you are just a casual collector of Mexican Coins and only want to keep it so, this isn’t an article for you. However if you want to become a serous collector hopefully you will find it interesting and informative.
No matter how much money you have, today you cannot collect all of the many series of Mexican Coins seriously and still be successful! Why? Because there are far too many extreme rarities in each series to ever have any hope of completing most or all series. As a matter of fact some of the large series of Mexican Coins have never seen a single collector accomplish the goal of completing even a full DAM collection.
Most collectors, whether they admit it or not, want a starting and ending place. It is always easy to find a starting point, but sometimes it is difficult to plan an ending. This then should be the first item for your collecting strategy: When and where to start, and how to end collecting Mexican Coins.
Next you should determine if you want to recoup your investment in your collection, or even try to make a little money.
Or are you willing to dispose of your collection at a loss. Once you select this important point you can proceed.
If money has no bearing on your collection’s disposal let’s assume you may elect to give away your collection to a son or daughter, or some other relative, or maybe a school or numismatic society. There are some benefits in doing this for tax purposes if your collection is worth a lot of money, but it is wrought with problems.
However, if you would like to receive all of your money spent, or possibly make a profit when selling your collection, you need to have a much tighter strategy for buying coins.
Now that you have selected “the where” of your collection’s disposal you now have to decide “the when”. I highly recommend that you do this before your appointment with a pine box (your death). It is much easier for you to get rid of your collection before you die for many reasons. I have had a number of people contact us at Mexican Coin Magic wanting to know what their inherited collection is worth and how to go about selling it? If only the original owner had taken the time before his or her death to answer these questions much grief could have been avoided. If you are a casual collector and your collection isn’t worth a lot of money this isn’t a big concern, but if the collection is substantial then it is a big concern and very important.
Again let me give you an illustration to drive home and prove this point:
A number of years ago a lady called me from Mexico saying she had been given my name as a reputable person, and that she had found some correspondence between her father and me in his papers. The family was “well off” and her father had assembled one of the “greatest old collections” of silver coins from all periods of Mexican history from the Colonial to Republican Period. I had seen only parts of this gentleman’s collection on my visits to her father, so I had some inkling of just how great and valuable the collection was at the time. I asked if she or her brothers had no interest in the collection? She told me that during her inventory of the collection she had become very interested in the coins, but her two brothers just wanted to sell the collection.
She asked if I was interested in purchasing the collection? I told her I would love to, but because I was involved in a couple of bitter lawsuits and bankruptcy I couldn’t purchase it at the time. She asked, “If that is the case, what can I do?”
I asked her what time frame her family was looking at for the collection’s disposal?
She replied as soon as possible. I told her that in order to maximize the family’s sale price they would have to sell this large of a collection over a long (two to three years) period of time. She replied that she was under much pressure from her brothers to sell it immediately. I gave her the name and phone number of the only Mexican coin dealer with the resources to make a single purchase of this collection. The entire collection was sold a fraction of the price it could have brought at public auction. Enough said.
Now that we have briefly covered coin budgets, the when and where to start, and how to stop collecting Mexican Coins we begin the fun part, the actually collecting.
If you can be satisfied with Very Fine or slightly better specimens it should take a couple of years or less to complete this collection except for an Alamos or Estado de Mexico coin; anything better will be much more difficult and costly. Depending on your selected denomination this collection could be almost impossible to assemble in near Mint State condition today, unless one of the great old collections comes on the market. And even if that happens you might not be able to afford the ultra high-grade coins in the collection … unless you have a substantial budget.
There are different ways to customize a Denomination Type Set. For instance if you are interested in Colonial Mexico you could include a coin from each of the Spanish Kings. Or you might select only Silver Decimal Coinage. Many collectors want a coin by denomination from each Mexican mint that struck a particular series. A few collectors may choose to collect only the gold escudo or peso coinage.
Yes, there are many variations for a Denomination Type Collection, and of course once you have completed your first, you may want to start another one or two.
This individual collector must first decide if he or she will collect all of the styles found for your selected series of Mexican Coins, or only the major styles. Some series have very few style changes (one or two); others such as the Cap & Ray 8 Reales have many. Therefore you should set some type of strategy early on.
A beginning strategy might be to select a single mint where you collect one series by major styles, later you may decide to increase the scope of your collection to other mints or series. In my opinion this can be one of the more rewarding ways to collect Mexican Coins because of the many different and intriguing designs found on the coinage from Mexico.
A collection in this category can number from a few coins to several hundred, the choice is yours depending on the selected series. This collection could require a great amount of your time because several series have a few unpublished assayers.
The true variety collector is a strange person, unlike any other collectors; this collector generally finds more pleasure in finding a new unpublished variety than from securing an extreme rarity that is already known to exist.
This category of collecting is not for the weak of heart, it requires a lifelong passion that is never ending. The number of coins for any and all series today is almost limitless because we are still in the “dark age” of variety collecting for Mexican Coins. It is almost a forgone conclusion that if you look through a group of 50 or more coins from any denomination and/or mint you will discover multiple unpublished varieties.
Ten years ago there were maybe a dozen or so public, or mail bid auctions held by Richard Long, Ponterio & Associates, Coin Galleries, and Superior Galleries where you could be assured of finding a few nice Mexican Coins in the USA. Additionally there were a few bid or buy price lists from Jed Crump at Pat Johnson Rare Coins. Duane Douglas, Alejandro Cortina, Alberto Hidalgo, and Luis Gomez Wulschner, all from Mexico, had occasional public auctions in conjunction with coin shows in Mexico City and Guadalajara where you could find common date and occasionally a rare date Mexican coin or two. The Cayon family in Spain had an auction or two each year where you could generally find some nice Mexican Colonial pieces, and a Republic gold piece from time to time.
There were several coin shows in the US where a number of dealers handling Mexican material might show up: Long Beach, California, twice a year, the January FUN Show in Orlando, Florida, the old New York City International Coin Show in December, The CICS in Chicago, or the Money Sow in Houston.
By the 1990s all of the old popular periodicals, such World Coins and the Numismatic Scrapbook, where you could find many wonderful Mexican coins in space ads, were long gone. Most of the old time U.S. coin dealers that once specialized in Latin American and Mexican coins such as Harvey Bruins, Henry Christensen, Abner Kriesberg, Hans Schulman, and Neil Utberg, to name a few, who created fixed price lists and/or an occasional mail bid sale were no more.
Or you could travel to Texas (either Abilene or Fort Worth depending on the year) to go through Mike Dunigan’s extensive stock because Dunigan stopped producing his fixed price lists years (1992) ago.
Yes, your opportunities for finding good Mexican coins were very limited only ten years ago.
Then the Internet, eBay, and Yahoo came into being. Since then the world of collecting Mexican coins has changed. The giants of our hobby: Bowers, Stack’s, the Goldbergs, and Heritage have awakened. Nontraditional auction houses such as Doyle’s of New York, Smythe, and others are beginning to offer a smattering of nice Mexican items at public auction.
But I believe the Internet is the driving force behind all of this renewed interest in Mexican Numismatics. Everyday new items are listed for sale on websites such as eBay, Yahoo and a hundred others. Since early 2000, when I began looking at eBay every day, the number of new Mexican coins offered daily has increased almost exponentially. In 2000 I might see 5 or 10 new items a week, now we find hundreds, if not a thousand, or more each and every week. While most Mexican coins listed on the Internet are common and in circulated grades, we also find great rarities and exceptional high-grade items too. At first these coins sold for insignificant prices; a Mexico City Mo 1836 ML 8 Escudo sold for under $2,000, a Guanajuato Go 1826/5 JJ 1 Real sold for only $10, and there are at least a hundred other really rare coins sold at bargain prices that I could sight. This has changed somewhat; by late 2006 the prices for contemporary counterfeit Mexican Republic 8 Reales ranged from $50 to $100 each on the Internet, an unheard of price just a few years ago.
Today collectors worldwide can participate in “real time” at major public auctions while sitting at home because all of the major auction houses now have online hookups allowing you to bid against collectors and dealers on the floor or on the book at their sales. I personally bought an extremely rare Culiacan 20 Peso for over $10,000 in one of these Internet sales in early 2006. There are still bargains to be found on the Internet, but don’t be surprised if others discover them too. Yes, the Internet has changed collecting Mexican Coins dramatically.
Be sure to include the Internet in your strategy for the future.
If your intention is to build a “world class” collection your strategy will require more time and study. One of the most troublesome aspects of collecting Mexican coins is trying to determine which coins come in what grades. You don’t want to spend your hard earned money on a nice almost Uncirculated specimen if high quality Mint State examples are readily available.
While the overall grade of a coin is very important, there are other considerations that will set your collection apart from others. This aspect of collecting maybe the single most important part of your strategy, but it is going to require you to spend time looking at many coins.
Each of the Mexican mints has a personality. Yes, I know this is an oxymoron because only living objects such as people or animals are supposed to have personalities. But believe me each of the Mexican mints have unmistakable personalities, and these individual mint personalities can vary greatly depending on the coin series and the time frame in which the coins were produced.
These mint personalities are reflected in the overall quality of the coins produced by each mint by series and time frame. Let me give you a couple of examples to illustrate my point:
Let’s look at a few mint personalities of the Cap & Ray 8 Reales series
Now let’s examine a few ½ Reales:
Are you beginning to get the picture?
Selecting the right coins for your collection is important, but finding the proper information about them will require much study, by you, because current coin price catalogs don’t mention anything about choosing coins. Most series of Mexican Coins have no books telling you what to expect when looking for coins for your collection. Only a few series have any published material about the coin selection process. The following books should be in all Mexican Numismatic libraries because each will make you a more knowledgeable collector, even if you don’t collect that series.
Few of these books have pricing data, but what they contain is much more important, if you want to become a serous collector of Mexican Coins. They are crammed with good information about the coins and are illustrated with hundreds of clear high quality photographs of coins. Just remember someone, much wiser than me, many years ago said, "One picture is worth a thousand words".
By the way, if you intend to become a serous collector be sure to allow a chunk of money in your budget for books, numismatic publications, and dues for membership into clubs and numismatic societies. Also make plans to travel, because you need to go to coin shows and public auctions to see coins, meet other collectors and the dealers who specialize in Mexican Coins. This should be an important part of your strategy.
Next you need to decide what will be the “average” grade of the coins in your collection. Will you allow some low-grade coins in your collection, or will you require all to be high-grade for the series? Just remember this consideration must hinge on the collecting category you select; don’t set your goals too high so that you become disinterested in continuing your collecting.
Today grade seems to influence prices much more than overall rarity because US collectors are the driving force in the current Mexican Coin Market. And we all know that Americans only want the best, no matter what they are buying. Current coin pricing catalogs are a “joke” if you are trying to establish the value for any individual Mexican coin. Most of the values in current catalogs haven’t been updated since 1986. Remember what the price of gasoline is now, versus what it was in 1986, or how about a gallon of milk. All coin prices are currently advancing rapidly with no short-term end in sight, but then no one has a crystal ball that can predict what the future holds. It is your money and it has to be your final decision; is any coin worth its owner’s asking price.
Part of your overall collecting strategy must be spending your money properly. But let me give you a stern warning: don’t visit a coin show without some inkling of what you want to spend. However, you must also take into consideration what happens if "a once in a lifetime coin" makes its appearance at this show. Never pass up the opportunity to buy “the coin” if your research makes your mouth water for it. After all you may not get another chance to purchase this coin again.
Recently a collector and I had a long phone conversation about his trip to the Fall 2007 Long Beach coin show. He was moaning and groaning about the lack of good material found on the bourse floor. I told him I had talked to the gentleman who attended the show with him and he had a completely different story.
“How could this be?” I asked him.
His answer was that his traveling companion had spent $125 to get into the show a day before it opened to the public. This is a case of cents prudent, pound-foolish. Here is a man who spent hundreds of dollars to buy an airplane ticket, spend three or four nights in a hotel, and bought all of his meals on the road who’s strategy for saving a $100 may have cost him many good and possibly irreplaceable coins.
Part of your strategy and budget should be paying the extra money to attend a coin show on the day before it is open to the public, if possible. When Dave Busse and I go to coin shows and set up our table we always arrive the day before dealer setup so we are rested and ready early the next morning. We want to get ready to buy early before all of the little good Mexican material is soon to be picked over. Just remember you are not going to find hundreds, or thousands of Mexican coins at most shows. You will be lucky if there are 20 to 50 good Mexican coins on the floor at any coin show in the USA, so go and spend your money early.
This brings up another good point for not being miserly at coin shows. Coin shows aren’t flea markets or bazaars, so you should show a little respect for the dealers with Mexican coins. Mexican coins are hard to find and most dealers having more than a couple in stock are generally knowledgeable coin dealers. One collector told me a tragic tale; he was attending a coin show where Paul Brombal had a table. For those of you who don’t know Brombal he is a very knowledgeable Mexican Specialty Coin Dealer who has been around for many years. Paul had a very rare high-grade 2 Escudo in his case. The collector was new to Mexican Coins, so when Paul priced the coin this collector retrieved his trusty coin-pricing catalog from his briefcase and compared the two prices. Gadzooks, Paul had priced the coin at several times over the catalog’s price. Our friend then foolishly offered Paul less than book value for the coin. Paul asked for the coin back and went on about his business, our collector continued looking over the bourse floor for coins. He bumped into another collector, who was much more advanced in the field of Mexican Numismatics, where he mentioned the coin and the dealer’s outrageous asking price.
This collector told him he was a moron; first for pulling out the catalog, and second for offending Paul by offering him less than 20% of his asking price. Both of these actions proved this collector was a novice who knew little, or nothing about the real world of collecting Mexican Coins.
So another important consideration for your strategy; you must learn to keep your mouth shut when you are around more knowledgeable Mexican coin collectors and dealers. Just listen and learn. And don’t try to dicker with the asking prices for good Mexican coins the first time you meet a new dealer. If you don’t want to pay his price, just tell him you will pass on the coin and move on. Do not insult him by telling him what the book value is for his coin … because he doesn’t give a zip about what the book says.
Today’s pricing information for all but the most common Mexican Coins in current catalogs is very misleading so don’t try to buy choice coins at these prices. Let me give you a couple of illustrations to prove this point:
The first happened in the recent Ponterio & Associates Sale #143 where the finest known ZS 1870 YH 8 Reales sold for $52,900; its current book value lists no price, only that it is rare.
A second case occurred in the September 2007 Goldberg Sale #42 when two Chihuahua silver ¼ Reales were offered; both were graded by NGC; one at MS-62 and the other a AU-58, the first sold for $3,600 and the second for $2,700 plus a 15% buyers fee. Current price catalogs list the highest grade available at Extra Fine with a value of only $500.
A word of caution for all new Mexican coin collectors; when an extreme rarity is offered to you at what seems like a very high price, even if the coin is low-grade, you need to consider it to be a “no-pass” coin. I mention this only because this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase that one coin that could later become the “star” of your collection.
A beginning strategy for this collector is simple; purchase one coin for each year from any mint that coined your selected series or denomination. Over the years you will have unlimited opportunities to upgrade this collection, so can you expect to have many years of fun. This collection could contain as few as four (Mexico City Seated Liberty Copper 1/8 Reales in 1841, 1842, 1850, and 1861) coins or number close to 100 (Cap & Ray 8 Reales were minted from 1823 until 1897) depending on the denomination you select.
Variations on the date theme abound; you could collect first and last date for one or more series or denominations. Historical periods; a date for each year (1863-1867) Maximilian was the Emperor of Mexican. Or how about collecting one series by year during Mexico’s many war years. I know several collectors, from Texas, that collect Mexican coins keyed to Texas history; one collects Mexican coins known to circulate during the Texas provincial period, three that collect by date during the Texas fight for independence from Mexico, and two more who collect Mexican coins during the time Texas was an independent country. Themes for collecting by date are some of the most interesting ways to collect, so let your mind roam.
Many collectors feel that the fully-round early colonial coinage we now call “Royals” were in reality trial strikes intended to be sent back to Spain, or the local viceroy for the approval of a new issue. While you may not subscribe to this theory, they are still very interesting parts of Mexican Numismatic History and are very collectable. In recent years the prices for all “Royals” has sky rocketed to unheard of prices. But these coins sometimes show up in the strangest places, so always be on the lookout for them.
Almost all of the many series of Mexican coins from the colonial to the modern periods have some trial strikes. Generally they are all rare, some much more so than regular circulating issues. To the best of my knowledge there are only three or four Mexican pattern/trial strike exclusive collectors in the world. Higher prices are bringing out new coins from all over the world that fit into this category, making life very interesting.
This is almost a virgin area of Mexican Numismatics, so give it some thought while you are setting your strategy because these coins generally sell at bargain prices if you consider their overall rarity.
There are many error collectors, and even a dealer or two who specialize error coins; some deal exclusively in US coins and a few world coins, but none specialize in Mexican errors and anomalies. The first problem for any collector wanting to start collecting error coins has to be the lack of information, but second is pricing data. Many Mexican Coin Collectors don’t feel these coins are due any premium with a few exceptions that have been cataloged for a number of years. One of the few error coins that generally sees a substantial premium when it appears on the market is the Mo 1824 JM Hookneck 8 Real where the “B” is missing from “REPU_LICA”. A specimen of this error variety sold in the September 2007 Ponterio & Associates Sale#143 for a record price of $17,250. Normally a nice almost Uncirculated regular Mo 1824 JM Hookneck can be purchased for much less, in the $1,000 to $1,500 range depending on the coins’ strike and centering.
Here is a good example of one type of error that has remained hidden from the mainstream of Mexican Numismatics: For many years I have been under the opinion that that the Master Dies or Hubs for Mexican Republic Coins have had lines or dots indicating where certain punches should be applied for the legends. These extemporaneous dots or lines are normally covered up with the corresponding punches, but sometimes the diesinker doesn’t apply the correct punch; at other times they punch the character or number directly above the line or dot. This results in an extra line or dot appearing on the die. While this doesn’t happen frequently it does happen occasionally as on variety [Do-1890-2102] of the Durango DO 1890 JP Cap & Rays 8 Reales where we see a line under the superscript “s” in “20GS.”. This not a common error; I personally know of less than a dozen DAMs for all of 8 Reales and 8 Escudos where this type of error occurs, but I'm sure there are many more yet to be discovered.
This is an area where a new collector of Mexican coins could cut a wide swath in an un-worked and fallow field and probably make substantial dollars if he has any research and writing skills. Don’t forget to include errors and anomalies in your overall strategy.
The birds found on the Mexican Republic coins vary greatly. Notice I said birds. I say this because many don’t look like eagles, Mexican or any others ever seen by man. This is one of the reasons they are so collectable.
The largest group of these weird looking birds occur on the Cap & Ray 8 Reales simply because all 14 Republican mints minted 8 Reales. There were millions, if not billions, of 8 Reales produced from 1824 until 1897. Because most of these mints were generally leased out, the federal and state governments didn’t have much to say about the final production designs even though there were laws in place stating that the Mexico City Mint would supply all of the matrixes and dies for all Mexican Federal Coinage. The Mexico City Mint was lucky just to make enough dies in most years for its own coins, let alone those for the other 13 mints.
Most of the mint leases were sold, or given to foreigners or foreign companies; some from England, Germany, France, and the USA. These guys and companies were capitalists; they wanted to make money from their concessions. Most of the early mint lease contracts were for 10 years; the lessees generally had to buy all of the minting equipment and supplies during the contract period. Most contracts stipulated that the mint was to revert back to the state, where the mint was located, at the end of the 10-year lease. This meant that if the Mexico City Mint couldn’t, or wouldn’t, supply the materials need for them to make as many coins as possible they simply broke the Mexican laws by purchasing matrixes and dies somewhere else.
We know for sure that some punches, dies, and matrixes for Chihuahua, Culiacan, Guanajuato and Zacatecas were manufactured by the British Soho Mint and shipped to Mexico clandestinely (see Issue (603) Untold Stories: A Mint for Mexico: Boulton, Watt And The Guanajuato Mint by Richard Doty). There is some speculation where the designs used in Durango for the Paris Style originated. Most authorities concur that the Sonora Style dies were first used at the Guadalupe y Calvo Mint and were later transferred to the Culiacan, Alamos and Hermosillo mints, but I have seen no data saying who, or where they were made. Some styles were evidently made in-house at the individual mints because they are unique to one mint, others saw service at one mint and then later appear at another.
Nonetheless there are hundreds of different and unusual eagles found on Mexican coinage and this is what makes this category of collecting so much fun. Some examples of the more interesting birds found and my nickname for each can be found in this issue: (1008) Mexican Coin Facts & Figures: The Mexican Eagles Part 3: The Mexico City Mint’s Cap & Ray Eagles: 1823 to 1869. Just remember as you look at these eagles this is only one of the 14 Republican Mint's birds of prey; almost all of these mints have unique eagles and some of them are very strange, or even funky looking. Finding all of the different eagles from Mexico could take a lifetime of collecting and you will never become bored.
Collector “A” started collecting all denominations of gold from Mexico City by DAM and style; later he added silver reales by assayer. This man’s strategy has given him a lifetime of pleasure and he will never become bored; because I’m betting he with never complete this collection.
Collector “B” specializes in the San Luis Potosi Mint. He has built a retirement home there and will someday move from the US to San Luis Potosi. His strategy has changed over the years; first he collected Potosi 8 Reales by DAM. After we met, talked, and I showed him a few of the different Potosi Eagles, he has now changed his overall strategy; he now collects all Potosi silver coinage by Eagles. Collector “B” will be busy until the day he dies if he wants to, because it is unlikely he will ever find all of the Potosi Eagles.
These are just two of many ways a mint specialist could collect Mexican coins, but there are many others that come to mind. Have you ever thought about becoming a Mint Specialist?
Today, if you surf eBay for Mexican coins, you have surely seen “Swamper Bob” bidding on coins. I’ve never met him, but have communicated with him several times. Swamper is without a doubt one of the more knowledgeable people alive today when it comes to contemporary counterfeit Mexican coins. If you would like to communicate with him you will find his email address in the Mexican Coin Magic Collector Directory. If you talk to him, or email him, why not ask him to write an article or two for Mexican Coin Magic to share his experiences and knowledge with our readers?
Yes, the field for collecting contemporary counterfeit and fake Mexican coins is still virgin territory, so give it a thought as you set your collecting strategy.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea for you to consider becoming a Single Denomination All Mint specialist in your strategy? After all you could spend a lifetime having a great time building and improving this collection and like Ray Souza, never become bored.
Have I bored you to tears yet? Let’s hope not? Enough of my BS for now; go have some fun with your coins, learn to look at them and listen to what they can tell you! Become more than just another “hole filler”! Become a real Mexican Numismatist. I promise you it is very rewarding and you will never become bored.
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