(1102) The Front Page: Volume 3 Issue 11: Last Revision: 03/28/08
News and Commentaries on Mexican Coins
The Mexican Numismatic hectic free-for-all pace of 2007 has slowed down to barely a heart beat during the 1st Quarter of 2008. Yea, there have been a few nice coins show up here or there, but for the most part the auction scene is a dribble compared to early 2007. There were several nice coins in the Heritage New York Sale in January, I even won a few, but other than that and some nice Cap & Ray 8 Reales and a few Colonial coins on eBay pick’ns have been a little slim.
Long Beach May 2008
Most people (the real old-timers) are waiting to see what is going to happen come May 2008 with the Long Beach Show that usually sees some nice Mexican stuff.
Just received an email notification from the Goldberg’s that the Internet catalog for their May 2008 Millennia Collection Sale is now posted. If you haven’t taken a look at it, you should. Don’t get your hopes up too high, unless your war chest is Veryyy large because there is some real nice Mexican and other Latin American pieces. Some of these babies are sure to set new price records!
Wow! A New Unlisted Mexican War of Independence 1 Real...
I had a visitor this week from North Texas, Bruce Sanders one of our regular Mexican Coin Magic readers, who was visiting the island for a couple of days while his wife attended at medical conference. He called and wanted to come by for a little coin talk and to look for some 1836 coins. Bruce is a Texas War of Independence freak, so he is trying to find coins and paper that were used during the period in Texas. Before coming to my to my place he stopped by to see Rod Bates at Rio Bravo Gallery.
Bates and are within walking distance, and I usually stop by his place every week or two, but I've been working hard trying to finish Issue #11 of MCM and hadn't been by in a couple of weeks. Bruce didn't even get through my door when he burst out, "You better get to Rod's place quickly. He's got a new, unlisted Independence 1 Real you gotta see!"
Today (03/28) I went by Rio Bravo and said, "Give Me!" Rod knew what I was talking about and went to get the coin. He has promised to write an article about the sordid background of this coin this weekend. If he does you will find it in our new column (1116) Around and About: that we had planned to début in the next issue replacing Kent's Korner.
Just incase Rod doesn't finish the article, here is a scan of the coin...
A word to the wise, if you are interested in purchasing this little dude you better get on the phone to Rod, he told me it was Tax Time and he is going to move this coin quickly! His phone number is (956) 346-5747.
While at Rio Bravo, picking up the coin, I met my first ever lady collector of Cap & Ray 8 Reales! More about this interesting lady collector later.
The Great Melt of 2008!
Some knowledgeable collectors and dealers are more than slightly worried about The Great Melt of 2008 currently underway. Millions and millions of dollars worth of silver and gold are hitting the melting pot as gold spiked to over a grand an ounce and silver hovered around $20. Guess the ‘gold bugs’ are finally feeling pretty good about now.
One of our readers talked to one of the big refiners/smelters, he said his pots were running 24 by 7. Another collector told me he was getting ready to melt a bunch of cheap Mexican stuff (including Republican 8 Escudos and 8 Reales) that has been lying around for years that nobody wanted. What a shame.
The San Antonio Mexican Coin Club
The last meeting of the San Antonio Mexican Coin Club was well attended, over 25 Mexican Coin Freaks showed up. We had several South Texas Collectors ride up to the Alamo City in my old white bus, good conversation for 10 hours on the road coming and going. Rod Bates had the ole suburban groaning under the weight of all of the stuff he bought at the meeting.
Good meal, good swap of stores and coins. One of our readers of Mexican Coin Magic made a presentation to the assembled group entitled Grade Rarity of the Mexican Republic 1 Real. Interesting presentation because this guy has been doing a four yearlong survey of 1 Real Sales. Met another researcher that night who is also well along on another sales survey. Seems like this Mexican Numismatic group is starting to bloom.
The next meeting is scheduled for May 30th 2008; if you aren’t busy you should plan to attend. You need to contact Fernando Razo (mexicancoinclub@yahoo.com) even if you live too far away to attend the meetings because The Razo produces a great club newsletter that should be of interest to all Mexican coin collectors, no matter where you live. Here is a sample of the last one (1102a) and believe me there is much more, besides it is free to one and all.
Foreign Coin Prices, other than Mexico, Are Soaring!
Have you noticed the booming prices for foreign coins, other than Mexican, lately? More than one foreign coin has now broken the $1 Million Dollar glass ceiling in recent months. I hope you have hitched up your wagon and been scouring the hills for bargains, because we could be in for a real fast ride over the next couple of years. Especially, if the US Dollar continues plunging!
I guess I'll never learn a thing about doing translations? All that I have attempted in the past begin like a forest fire and then peter-out to a burning twig at the end. This is true with my latest endeavor!
The Volume III first phase translation was completed this fall. The man doing the translation did as well as he could considering he knew nothing about Mexican coins. Another problem was the archaic Spanish used to translate the Pradeau original manuscript that was in written in English. Dave Busse worked well over a month trying to fix the section on just the Guadalajara Mint. This fall someone, supposedly an Englishman living in Mexico City by the name of Christopher Bolton, contacted me about the website and helping with the translations. Do any of you know Christopher Bolton? If so please contact me, I've sent this guy more than a little money and he seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth!
The saga continues, the Pradeau Volume II was supposed to have been finished by my original translator by the end of January 2008. It's now near the end March 2008, if my calendar is correct. I really need to start Volume I ASAP. Is there anyone out there in electronic LaLa Land who knows a good and cheap translator who has some knowledge about Mexican Coins? If so please contact me.
Now for some good news; I may be the only person left in the world who has read the complete English version of Volume III and believe me when I say there are many interesting items and facts in this book. For instance Pradeau speculates that the San Luis Potosi did indeed mint gold coins and he sights which ones. He discusses at length thefts from several mints by government officials and even quotes from documents where they are trying to exonerate their actions. He has detailed information about fraud in the mints and who was ultimately responsible and what, if any, actions were taken by government officials. He sights one example when counterfeiters are caught red handed and what happened to them because they weren't high born. He also has some previously unpublished mintage figures that are very interesting. The good doctor also tells us about a few unpublished DAMs for several denominations and the collections they resided in at that time.
You, English speaking only guys, who enjoy reading about the history Mexico, its mints, and what was really going on in Mexico will love these translations. Even our bilingual friends may enjoy a more modern version that is much easier to read and understand.
But I need some help. Do I see any raised hands out there? If you are interested in helping and will work for peanuts, please contact me.
Mexican Coin Sales Population Surveys
Do you hear that sound? Let me tell you that it is the sound of new information being gathered together by Mexican Numismatic Researchers all over the globe. Today, I know of five other people who are doing population studies for different denominations of Mexican Coins above and beyond what I have been working on for the last 25+ years.
To me this is exciting news, because if I know of five it means there must be others that I know nothing of. If you are doing research such as this, and want others to know about and possibly contribute to your work, let me know and I will note it in the next issue of Mexican Coin Magic. I'm already personally loaning two of these researchers catalogs and coins they need from my personal reference collections and library.
News About Mexican Coin Magic
It appears our readership is slowly, at a snail's pace, inching its way upward. So far, during 2008 we have had 2,285 new visitors, who have looked at an average of about three pages. That's not too hot! But we have 577 of ya'll that have come to visit us more than once, which isn't all bad I guess.
While incoming questions to The Mexican Coin Answer Man have dropped a lot since Issue #10, signups by collectors for The Collector Directory has increased. We broke 100 last week, but we are still having less than 50% of the collectors who will allow me to post their names, email addresses, and interests in the Collector Directory online. This is shame, because there are people (collectors and want-a-be collectors) all over world who want communicate with others with similar interests. Another interesting item; we have now had collectors sign up from 12 foreign, or none US and Mexico, countries. Isn't time for you to signup, it's simple and will only take a couple of minutes to complete. (14) Collector Registry Form.
By the way I’m sorry we never finished Issue #10. Some of the people who promised some articles didn’t come through and I got behind the 8-Ball too, so I thought I would just go ahead and do Issue #11. Hope you can forgive me? I'm going to post this issue next week, finished or not, because I'm getting a lot of flack about taking so long to add new stuff.
We Are Going To Take Breather
Don’t look for a new issue of Mexican Coin Magic until sometime this summer. I have some pressing business to attend to and I’m in the process of updating and rescanning the Republican Cap & Ray 8 Reales Reference Collections. Additionally I have a very large 1 Real Collection the owner is allowing me to enter into that Reference Collection. I figure I have about 200 to 300 hours of scanning to do over the next two months. And that is a lot of work for an old man.
Okay, you caught me! It is also starting to warm up down here; I intend play hooky and do a little fishing. I’m going to catch me a 25-pound Snook this year, the Lord willing and the big winds don’t blow us out.
Until next time, keep looking and listening to your coins; they have great stories to tell, if only you listen.
[X] Return to Table of Contents Volume 3 Issue 11
[Home] Return to Mexican Coin Magic Home Page