From 1992 to 1995 Mexico produced bimetal silver 10, 20 and 50 pesos coins that were intended for circulation. Every one I've seen is heavily circulated so there's no question that they were in circulation. Any other country I know of was done with circulating silver by the late 1960s, so I'm wondering if this is the last instance of it. Anyone know any others?
It's hard to imagine a country so recently putting silver in its coins, especially a country that is not known for its strong currency. Incidentally, despite their high mintage numbers, these seem pretty hard to find and sell at a premium. I wonder if a lot were melted or something?
Well, they have quite a lot of silver in Mexico ... But "late 60s" is a tad early. Both Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany, for example, used silver circulation coins until 1975, and had silver collector coins - issued at face - until late 2010 (AT)/early 2011 (DE). Christian
10 pesos is less than a dollar US. Current is 1:13. They have more than a dollar worth of silver in them... about $3 worth, I think.
But you yourself said the 10 mark and 10 Euro coins didn't ever really circulate. I remember when I was travelling through Germany in the early 1990s picking up some 10 marks in silver and occasionally spending the ones I didn't want to keep - but even shopkeepers thought they were unusual - but willingly took them.
Right, my main point was that the late 1960s were not exactly the time when this (circulating silver) came to an end here. But when those Mexican pieces were issued (mid-1990s), no country around here did anything like that - collector coins at face yes, circulation no. And I also believe that, with regard to non-commemorative issues, they were the last ones ... Christian
There were also 20, 50 and 100 peso coins with silver in them - but not so sure those saw actual circulation. The 10 peso coins were issued when silver was under $5 an ounce. I had a few of those coins but not sure whatever happened to them. I did keep the 10DM coins that I liked as well as the 100FF coins from France. Right now the British Royal Mint sells 20 pound coins for 20 pounds, but they only have about a quarter ounce of silver in them - and some fools have tried to spend them unsuccessfully in Tesco etc. In Canada they have a similar programme, selling C$20 coins for $20 but again while they are legal tender they are not practically spent - as nobody outside of collectors and the mint of course even know what they are.
Does anyone have any thoughts about why these are relatively hard to find? I don't have my Krause in front of me but I know that none of the dates have a mintage of less than 10 million and the 92 is considerably higher. But you will only see a few for sale on eBay and they sell for two or three times the silver value.
Mexico made a concerted effort to get the currently-valued peso into circulation with precious metal. Mexico had a 450+ year tradition of circulating silver until the early 1970s and the effort was to stabilize the coinage and currency system after years of inflation eroded the old peso. The silver bi-metallic coins was a cachet of acceptance to get the new coins circulating. In the developed world, the Federal Republic of Germany is often considered the last country to have truly circulating silver coinage. The strong, expanding then-West German economy sustained true hard currency longer than most of the post-War Allies. I believe the French 50-franc piece was also still circulating for quite some time into the 1970s. Other collectors may know more and possibly more correct information on this topic.
The 1970s 50 FF coins were demonetized sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Back in 2000 I bought a bunch of them for something like 35-40FF each - less than face value but about melt value.
The 10,20,and 50 Nuevo Peso make an interesting set. Yes, they contain only a small amount of 0.925 Silver, but silver is silver. ASW for the 10 Peso is .1667 oz., .2500 for the 20 Peso, and .5000 for the 50 Pesos. That's less than 1 ounce for all three combined. Yes, you are going to pay a premium and yes, they can be a little hard to find sometimes. But that's what makes them fun to collect..
Heavily, heavily melted. In fact I often find just the outer ring of these coins in lots because someone removed the silver center. I have also been guilty of destroying circulated examples for the sake of removing the silver center part. Many of the 10 peso coins were also used for jewelry due to the nice design of the center portion.
Thanks for the explanation. I thought that might be the case. Then I won't feel so bad overpaying for them.
