I struck Gold! (1945 dated Mexican 2 Peso)

This coin is, for most collectors, one of the best ways to get into collecting gold coins. It's relatively cheap. low risk, and doesn't sell for much over the spot price. You can get one of these for around $85 right now, and the gold itself is worth $73. Not too bad of a deal at all. I'd been perusing eBay for small gold coins like this, and the 2 1/2 peso caught my eye first, though I was still open to the 2 peso coin. As fate would have it, this coin was the one that I saw at the flea market. And of course I just happened to have the exact amount of cash needed (after I traded in a few silver coins). So I bought the coin and away I went, now an owner of a gold coin, for the second time. My last gold coin was sold years ago so I'm happy to be back in the club. 

My Silver Investment

Like most coin collectors I view the majority of my collection as an investment. There are some coins that I'll probably end up with for the remainder of my coin collecting years, but there are others that could appreciate and be worth selling at some point. Like most coin collectors I collect silver coins.

Pictured above are some of the silver coins I could sell at any time. At some point most, if not all, of them will likely be worth more for the silver than the numismatic value. And at that point I'll sell them for a nice chunk of change. Silver enjoyed a very high premium in 2011, and prices took a couple years to really settle down. Recently the spot price has been climbing. Well within the yearly averages from past "normal" years. But still, who knows what the future holds. Maybe it keeps climbing and has the highest yearly close since 2012. Or maybe prices fall again and I continue buying.

Anyway, There are some German 10 Mark coins from the 1972 Munich Olympics in there, as well as some walking Liberty Half Dollars and Franklin Half Dollars, a 1966 Mexican Peso (which is only 10% silver despite how big it is), A US Dime, a couple Florins from the UK, Some bullion from China and Austria, A Venezuelan Bolivar, a Netherlands Antilles quarter (which is just tiny), A Swedish Krona, A Czech 5 Korun coin, and a few others that are hard to see. These are all fairly loose. Not pictured is my book of silver US dimes, and a couple of coins in cardboard holders. The rest of my silver besides that would probably stay with me unless silver passes $50 per ounce. 

1928-M Mexican 20 Centavos!

I've been wanting one of these since January (2013)! Five months later, I get one for a steal. It's 72% silver and is worth $1.69 just in silver. I got it for a mere $0.20. This is the most beautiful coin I bought last Sunday and by far my favorite. For some reason I just find old silver Mexican coins highly appealing. I especially love the eagle on the reverse. It's much better than the design used on modern Mexican coins. It's worth about $3.00, a price I would have gladly paid had I not been fortunate enough to find this one.

1956-Mo Cincuenta Cenatvos!

Here's awesome half dollar. It's big and heavy like a coin should be and made of the beautifully inexpensive metal: bronze. Two of these coins put together made the also inexpensive Peso, which was only 10% silver and a tad bigger than this coin. I still wonder why they didn't reduce the size of the Peso or make it Copper-Nickel as both would have saved money, but the past is the past and they eventually did make it copper nickel. Just not before they made it the lowest purity of silver ever recorded in history. Anyway this coin is relatively cheap at $0.75 and has been demonetized so it's no longer legal tender.

1936 Mexico 1 Centavo!

Here's a coin from a time when Mexico could actually produce 1 Cent coins. Now their lowest denomination is the 5 Cent coin which seems to be the new norm around the world. The U.S. may even become part of this trend. The reasons I bought it: #1 I didn't have one and #2 I love that eagle. Reminds me of the German ones with the wings all outstretched. Despite my love for its eagle, it is only worth $0.10.

193?-M Mexican 5 Centavos!

Hey guys, here's my 19- wait a minute. The date's been worn off! Damn Mexicans always have to make things harder on us white folk! Well, I guess that ends the post.

Not! I'll use my detective skills to figure out the date. I can clearly see a 193 before the mystery number so it was definitely minted in the 1930's. There were only three years in the 1930's in which this coin was produced, 1936, 1937, and 1938. From there, I can tell that it's definitely not the 1937. Finally I come to the conclusion that it is most likely the 1936 because the 1938 has a substantially smaller mintage and because it just looks more like a 6 than an 8 to me. If it's the 1936 it is worth $0.05. If it's the 1938 it's worth $0.25.

1772 Mexican 1/2 Real! (Flea Market Finds #5)

This is my favorite of my flea market finds. It's 90.3% silver and was struck at the Mexico City mint which is still operating today! It features King Charles (Carolus) III and the Latin phrase "DEI GRATIA" or "BY THE GRACE OF GOD" which is still on British coins. Oddly enough, Charles advocated for a decline in the power of the Church and advancement in science during his lifetime. That's the kind of king I wouldn't mind living under.

 

Now, you can tell this coin is from Mexico City and isn't a full Real by simply knowing your Mexican Colonial Coins. Since I know relatively little, it took me a little detective work. I bought it marked as a Spanish Real but the Numista catalog said otherwise. The Spanish Real has no Mexico City mint mark and has the denomination marked as 1R. So I went to Mexico in the catalog and the Real had the right mint mark but still had that pesky denomination. I then started going down the list and after about ten seconds I found it. It's worth about $10.00 in this grade which is $3.00 over what I paid for it! Not my best deal but I am finally dipping into the world of 1700's colonial coins.

12/21/12 (Mexican Cincuenta Centavos 1979)!

In the same spirit as this post on Coined For Money I'm posting a Mexican coin! They are basically the same coins in design with the only real differences being this one is 50 Cents and not silver. There were a bunch of these at the flea market and since I had more Tanzanian coins than Mexican coins, I bought it. I'm not particularly fond of the reverse design so I'm glad that's changed in the past 30 years. The obverse has changed as well going from the coin above to this coin. There are two varieties for this year one has the last 9 round, like mine, and the other has both 9's square. The round 2nd 9 is worth $0.15 and the both 9's square is worth $0.20.

Viva La Mexico! (1961 Mo Mexican Peso)

Worst. Coin. Ever. Not really I mean it's 10% silver which amounts to about 1/2 of a silver dime and when considering this coin is bigger than a Half Dollar it's pretty bad. The obverse design is pretty cool and the reverse has not changed in since this coin was issued. Take a look at pretty much all of the coins that have been issued by Mexico in the past 100 years and most have an eagle on them. As I stated before it's got about half a silver dime's worth of silver which amounts to about $1.66.

2000-M Mexican Peso!

Maybe this is the solution to America's refusal to handle dollar coins. Make a smaller, bimetallic coin that is easy to handle and hard to mistake. Then again, since most Americans don't like carrying coin in the first place, this idea may not go too well. Not sure where I got this, although the flea market is a likely bet. It features the denomination, date, and mint mark on the obverse and the classic eagle on cactus reverse. It also says United States of Mexico in Spanish on the reverse. This coin is worth exchange value, or about $0.13.

1998 Mexico 5 Cents!

 Got this very nice coin a year ago in a coin trade. It wasn't the only one, but it was one of the ones in the nicest condition. To the right ----------------------------------------> is the Mexico City mint mark. It's the same mint mark seen above the ¢ on this coin. I wasn't able to find a Mexico City mint mark that I could copy and paste so I brought a picture instead. This is the same mint mark that has been used since the 1500's to indicate the origin of all Mexico City Mint coins. Below is a darker looking obverse. It was the first picture I took, and since it looked so nice, I decided to put it up as well. In terms of exchange for American money, this coin is worthless. In terms of nuismatics, it is worth $0.15.