The August issue of the US Mexican Numismatic Association has a reprint of a great article by the late Hal Birt Jr. about these coins. So I had to get out my specimen and the stereo microscope and see what I had. Turns out it is a an example of obverse die 3 and reverse die 3.
I bought the coin from Bergelt International four or five years ago at what is waaay below current melt. Ponterios authenticated it by examining the reeded edging, I'm not exactly sure what they were looking for.
Its been cleaned, as advertised, but is still quite attractive in hand.
If you don't get the USMEXNA publication or cant get to their web site. Obverse 3 is identified by a die crack from the 20th bead from the right of the O in Maximiliano running to the center top of his head. Reverse 3 has a substantial die break under the 2 in 20 Pesos.
The obverse die break is visible under stereo magnification, but I could not catch it in the photo (the brushing weakened it). The reverse die break came out pretty well.
Very nice coin and a great addition to any Mexican coin collection. It was a strange time in Mexico's history but it left us with some great numismatic treasures.
WA: thankyou. That's a very big coin. As I understand it, the LMU was based on the standard "Napoleon" of 20 French francs, which goes back to 1804 or so.
Still a nice coin, and the clearest die break below the 20 I've seen. However, whoever decided to brush this coin, I hope he suffered from some serious case of Moctezuma's revenge afterwards!
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