This 352 page book replaced an earlier version authored by Dr. George Vogt, Standard Catalog of Mexican Coins, Paper Money and Medals, and edited by Bruce. Both were continuations of the work first started by Neil Utberg that finally tried to list the Mexican coins from all epochs in a logical order.
I didn’t discover this classic piece of work until several years after I started collecting Mexican coins, but it was, and still is a book that I keep close at hand even though it is now over 30 years old. While my old standby, the Buttrey & Hubbard, A Guide Book of Mexican Coins 1822 To Date 6th Edition, is easier to carry because of its smaller size, this one has more information about all areas of Mexican Numismatics.
Both of the books are still a “must have” for any good numismatic library about Mexican Coins. Each one has some unique information, but they also contain some information that is overlapping too. The main differences are how the listings for each coin series is presented. On one hand, A Guide Book of Mexican Coins 1822 To Date lists the coins in Date/Mint/Assayer order and the Vogt/Bruce books list them first by Mint, then Date, and Assayer order. If you collect by Date the Buttrey & Hubbard book is easier to use. On the other hand, the Vogt/Bruce methodology works better if your prime emphases is by Mint.
The sequence of events leading up to the Bruce book was the effort made by Krause Publications to become the leading cataloger for all foreign coins in the English-speaking world. Maybe I’m a little overboard on that statement, but they have definitely dominated the US market since then.
I can’t remember the exact amount I paid for my original Standard Catalog of Mexican Coins, Paper Money, Stocks, Bonds and Medals, but I believe it was in the range of about $15. Today, prices for them start at somewhere around $75 and top out at over $125. When I purchased an old numismatic library, many years ago from Joe Davis, it contained about 20 copies of this book. I gave them away over the years to new collectors that I met; kinda wish I still had them now because I gave Joe $10 each if I remember correctly. I sure don’t have any Mexican coins that have appreciated that much! Now let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the book and forget about my crying.
The book begins with a great Table of Contents that allows the reader to hone in on the needed area they want to look up unlike most other coin catalogs. Next we find a full-page map of Mexico outlining each state and the cities where most of the Mexican mints were located. This is a bilingual publication with the pages split; the left side is in English, the right Spanish.
The Introduction is well written and contains some very useful information including a handy dandy conversion chart comparing the Krause numbers to those issued by Craig and Yeoman even though neither is used much today. From this you can see who Krause thought were their chef competitors of the day. Krause surely must be considered the winner of this contest.
Next we have a short history lesson about the Aztec Empire and the proceed to learn something about the Colonial coinage. There is interesting rendering of some early Mexican Colonial dies on page 22 that give us an idea about how crude the minting techniques were during that period. The early Maravedis and Reales have pretty decent photographs, or line drawings, so you can at least get an idea of what these coins are supposed to look like. The same is true for the Cobs, Portraits, and Pillars. Each series and denomination has one picture at the beginning of the listing during the Colonial Period, but they are missing a few during the War of Independence era, I suppose because of their overall rarity.
With the beginning of each epoch’s coins there is another short history lesson that makes good reading for new and old collectors alike. The Iturbide Empire is well covered with photos and coin listings.
The First Republican Period history lesion is rather short and the Decimal Period, or Second Republican Period is even shorter. We also begin to see a deviation in the photo reproductions; the coppers all have photos, but there this ends. Beginning with the ¼ Reales and continuing through to the 8 Reales and entire series of gold all mints do not have pictures of all denominations for some reason. But we do find pretty good lists of the coins, including many of the varieties with pricing information for four grades: Fine, Very Fine, Extra Fine and Uncirculated specimens that was adapted from the Buttrey system.
Beginning with the Decimal coins we find some mintage figures listed, but again not complete photos. This practice continues from here until the end of the modern era. There is a short but nicely written article about the 8 Reales being “The Trade Dollar To The World” before we begin a section about countermarked and stamped Mexican coins. Next Bruce covers Spanish American Proclamation Medals and finally modern medals. This section isn’t nearly as complete as is the Frank Grove’s work, but it isn’t three volumes long either. The same is true about the Mexican Paper Money, but again it starting place for novice collectors.
I don’t feel qualified to make any comments; good or bad, about the Stocks and Bonds section, but I will say I have found most of the ones I have encountered during my collecting days therein, I have no complaints. And believe it or not there is a really good index of these near the end of the book.
The last four pages of the book contain good silver and gold bullion conversion charts that price silver from $15 to $30 an ounce and gold from $500 to $1,000 an ounce. Bruce must have been a clairvoyant to see the need for these prices back in 1981.
Yes, this is still a very useful book even today, and with the way it is appreciating … you better buy one before it costs what an ounce of gold is selling for today!
[X] Return to Table of Contents Volume 3 Issue 11 [Home Page] Return to Mexican Coin Magic Home Page