The "Balance Scale" Peso Fiasco

Shortly after the overthrow of Maximilian, the Mexican government decided to resurrect the idea of a peso coin to supercede the long minted 8 reales, although obviously this was not going to be of the same design as the previous peso coin bearing the emperor's likeness and coat of arms.

Struck from 1869 to 1873, the "balance scale" peso, as it is generally referred to, was a debacle, disliked and mistrusted both at home and abroad, doomed by the repetition of a mistake made with respect to the prior Maximilian peso coin, that is, to adopt a reduced diameter that approximated that of the U.S. silver dollar. The purity and weight (and thus, actual silver content) remained the same as the preceding 8 reales, but the new coin just looked like it had to be intrinsically worth a little less. And that perception became the key stumbling block in its gaining acceptance by illiterate peon and Chinese merchant alike. The latter's rejection of the new style was particularly problematic, since one of Mexico's most important exports was its crown sized silver coinage, mostly for use in trade in the far east. It didn't help that while some production of the 8 reales continued during this period, most of the branch mints were switched over to churning out pesos that nobody felt disposed to use. Although ultimately forced to abandon the peso on this occasion, the Mexican government at least learned its lesson. When a quarter century later it once and for all retired the real, the new peso much more slavishly imitated the 8 reales it replaced.





The above, as you can see, is dated 1871 and struck at the Zacatecas mint. It's actually at worst AU insofar as wear goes, but darkly toned, which wouldn't be so bad but for that toning somehow havng been disrupted on the reverse.





Another, an 1873 from Guanajuato, that's also in decent shape, which is not that unusual. Most of these don't seem to have circulated to the extent that 8 reales of similar age have.





Here's a third, an 1872 coined at Mexico City, that's been abused. The rim dings reflect practice in rural Mexico of hurling a coin onto a hard service to test its ring. I had thought that the numerous penetrations of the surface (apparently with a knifepoint) might somehow be associated with testing its composition, but they really all look too uniform to have been done at different times. Why anybody would just stab a coin repeatedly is open to conjecture.





These have been forged. Here's a modern ferrous counterfeit that shouldn't fool any collector. Other fakes can be more deceptive, with some even being "juiced up" with phony chopmarks.