Posted 10/17/2009 10:39 am
BadThad You have a very interesting coin there. This is one of those coins where a simple value is inadequate to describe the coin's actual historical value.
It is a 50 Centavo from the Culiacan mint from the period of time when it was operated by the Robert Symon Company. Many Mexican branch mints spent part of their existence as PRIVATE operations as opposed to State run facilities like we expect. It is also a coin with a very low mintage - total 188,000. It is 0.900 fine silver and is equivalent to a US 50 cent piece.
This coin is part of the early decimal series of coins used in the Republic of Mexico. The first decimal issues were coined during the reign of Maximilian 1864-1867. Since the French influence predominated at that time - decimalization was introduced. The government retained the decimal system even after they shot Max. It was a failure with the overseas trade coins (the Pesos) so the 8 Reals was reintroduced quickly for export. The Peso and Centavos (100ths of a Peso) were strictly for Mexican use.
I also notice some very interesting anomalies in how the dies were made. This is to be expected since it is likely that the dies were made in Culiacan. Hubs were in use at this time in all branches but with varying degrees of expertise. There are two areas you should study. First the second 1 in the date is MUCH WIDER that the first 1. It could be an overdate or a redate - either way that is worth exploring. The use of two different die punch sets could have happened but other dies may have used a thin 1. Until you know which type predominates in 1881 - hold onto the coin. With a low mintage not too many dies would have been used so varieties may all be of equal value and rarity. But they are always interesting.
I was also interested in the mint mark - the C looks like it has a doubled lower serif. Could point to a double hub or a re-punched mint mark.
The last feature is the lettering around the eagle - that is messed up - missing serifs and odd looking letters - particularly the P, B, L, I and M. They all look like something strange happened during the die manufacture.
One caution when dealing with Mexican coins - all of the die varieties ARE NOT YET DOCUMENTED. There are many out there yet to be published. So I would look this one over closely - the monetary difference today may be small but the story the coin tells about how the dies were made is very interesting.
It is a 50 Centavo from the Culiacan mint from the period of time when it was operated by the Robert Symon Company. Many Mexican branch mints spent part of their existence as PRIVATE operations as opposed to State run facilities like we expect. It is also a coin with a very low mintage - total 188,000. It is 0.900 fine silver and is equivalent to a US 50 cent piece.
This coin is part of the early decimal series of coins used in the Republic of Mexico. The first decimal issues were coined during the reign of Maximilian 1864-1867. Since the French influence predominated at that time - decimalization was introduced. The government retained the decimal system even after they shot Max. It was a failure with the overseas trade coins (the Pesos) so the 8 Reals was reintroduced quickly for export. The Peso and Centavos (100ths of a Peso) were strictly for Mexican use.
I also notice some very interesting anomalies in how the dies were made. This is to be expected since it is likely that the dies were made in Culiacan. Hubs were in use at this time in all branches but with varying degrees of expertise. There are two areas you should study. First the second 1 in the date is MUCH WIDER that the first 1. It could be an overdate or a redate - either way that is worth exploring. The use of two different die punch sets could have happened but other dies may have used a thin 1. Until you know which type predominates in 1881 - hold onto the coin. With a low mintage not too many dies would have been used so varieties may all be of equal value and rarity. But they are always interesting.
I was also interested in the mint mark - the C looks like it has a doubled lower serif. Could point to a double hub or a re-punched mint mark.
The last feature is the lettering around the eagle - that is messed up - missing serifs and odd looking letters - particularly the P, B, L, I and M. They all look like something strange happened during the die manufacture.
One caution when dealing with Mexican coins - all of the die varieties ARE NOT YET DOCUMENTED. There are many out there yet to be published. So I would look this one over closely - the monetary difference today may be small but the story the coin tells about how the dies were made is very interesting.
Wow...great info, and the new pics help a lot! 
Definitely some repunching there. I see something on the first 8, and it appears an underlying 1 was at an angle to the final 1 punching? Cool...wish I knew exactly what happened here. Update: yeah...I thought there might be a 1/0 too. 
