The Maximilian Silver Peso

At the urging of the French, who were meddling in Mexican affairs during the American Civil War, Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of the Austrian House of Habsburg-Lorraine allowed himself to be crowned Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico in 1864. Despite unexpectedly backing liberal reforms that favored peons at the expense of wealthy landowners, Maximilian never won over the unsuppressed republican opposition who objected in principle to the reestablishment of a monarchy, and following the departure of the French troops that had been supporting his rule, he was taken prisoner and executed in 1867.

Silver pesos bearing Maximilian's likeness were struck at Mexico City, Guanajuato, and San Luis Potosi in 1866, with production at some of the other branch mints during this year consisting of the standard 8 reales "cap and rays" type (albeit evidently just in very limited quantities). For 1867, the Maximilian peso was coined at Mexico City only.





There are questions about these Maximilian pesos for which answers aren't readily found.

It's not clear to what degree they continued to circulate after his demise, and while you'd think they might have been largely melted down in the course of reconstituting the republic and in the interest of effacing Maximilian's memory, there nonetheless seems to be plenty still extant.

There's also the issue regarding what forgeries there are of these, whether they're primarily contemporary (more or less) counterfeits or latter day "replicas" made expressly for the purpose of duping turistas and/or collectors.

Another unknown, particularly with respect to the 1866 issues, is if a portion were exported for the Chinese trade (although I suspect that any that reached those shores would've most likely been summarily rejected). Certainly chopmarked examples would be of interest, provided they aren't spurious.