Contemporary Counterfeit Mexican 10 Centavos?

Arkie If the coin is not silver, it would be a counterfeit of some type. Very unlikely to be Revolutionary issue since most of these would have been made of silver to have intrinsic value.

Non-silver counterfeits of the 10 Centavos coins were very plentiful at the time of the Revolution. In this grade the coin is a curio more than a collectable counterfeit.

Arkie The decimal 10 Centavos was heavily counterfeited at the time ca 1900-1920. There are also a substantial number of 5 centavos as well. Every denomination in the decimal series was counterfeited.

Many people are under the impression that counterfeiters target only larger denominations, but as a practical matter they made any coin that could be produced for less than face value. During the Reales series even the 1/4 reale in silver was counterfeited. They are scarce but worth hunting for.

retiredkper Sandcasts of Pesos and 8 Reales were made of silver - usually raw silver that contained significant gold. Like the sandcast coins made during the War of Independence these coins were sought out by the US mint since they had intrinsic values above face value. By the time of the Revolution, sand cast silver coins were not as valuable as 100 years earlier but they could be melted for a profit.

Lists include some smaller denominations but I am unaware of a sand cast 10 centavo being reported in early sources.

In this case the coin is NOT silver. That is a key fact. It is a counterfeit and so crude as to be of little to no value.