Mexican Libertads

I have a 1996 new style Proof Mexican Libertad. It's a beautiful coin and I don't even like proofs. I even put it in a black 3 X 3 Capital holder.

It is not an angel it is a Genie
which is a supernatural winged creature
Edited cause the pic did not show ( too wide )

I really like the libertads and might start a collection once I complete the Franklin set.

Winged humanoids have been a common design element on coins almost from the dawn of coinage.

Known to the Greeks as Nike, Victory was a relatively common feature on Greek coins, though usually in a supporting role. The famous decadrachms of Syracuse, for instance, have Nike flying above and honouring the victorious charioteer. This is my only Greek coin to prominently feature Nike: a bronze of the city of Amastris, now Amasra on the north coast of Turkey.


In Ancient Roman times, Victory (winged female) and Genius (winged male) as reverse types, with Victory being more common. Even after the Christianizing of the Empire saw most of the "old gods" disappear from the coinage, Victory remained, taking on aspects of the Christian angel. Here's my oldest Roman Victory: a silver denarius of Roman emperor Hadrian, circa 119 AD, showing a seated Victory. She doesn't look too comfortable - human chairs obviously aren't designed for use by beings with wings on their backs! That's probably why Victory is almost always shown standing up...


This later Roman, a centenionalis of Caesar Decentius circa 351 AD, shows two victory/angels. The Latin legend reads "Victories of our lords, the Emperor and the Caesar".


Mediaeval Europe saw the transition to angel complete; probably the most famous angel-bearing coin is the English hammered gold coin known as the "angel". I don't have anywhere near enough cash to buy one, but here's a pic of an Elizabeth I angel from CoinArchives:


I do, however, have one of these - they're much cheaper: a silver denier of the French bishopric of Valence, struck sometime in the 1200's. Surely this guy wins the "Ugly Angel Award"! He doesn't even have any arms!


Since the Enlightenment, Victory as such (though still with angelic overtones) has made a comeback, as seen on coinage like the Libertads and the series of coins put out by Chile in 1976 after Pinochet's successful military coup.

quote:

---

ageka..I like the looks of that 'Genie' coin. Where is it from?

---

Sorry I mistakenly thought everybody knew the coin
It is a French goldcoin available in 20 FF ( melt or slightly over)
50 FF ( Very expensive ) 100 FF which is the pic I posted ( melt plus 40 % in this condition )
It was designed by Augustin Dupre who won a national contest for the best design with his angel
It is also called a lucky angel because the story goes that he was scheduled for the guillotine to be beheaded and that he had one of his own designed coins in his pocket and that coin save his live

You will find the gold execution of the design only started in the second republic from 1848 till 1852
The design I seem to remember was made in 1791 contest

http://www.cpror.com/index5i.htm

I went through my file of scans and found the 100 corona from Hungary
also has two beautifull angels ( coin is an official restrike at meltprice )probably made a few years after the indicated date of 1908



[

I found another this is a proof Genius from France Monnaie de Paris
can be had for as little as 20% over melt if you are patient

Cuba has two peso series that I find interesting the star of 1915 - 1934 and th ABC peso of 1934 - 1939.