A long time ago my wife inherited a couple gold coins from a family member who spent much of his life in South America. We don't know much about these but would be very interested in your feedback, both in terms of suggested insurance value as well as if there's anything special of note.
Many of them are restrikes such as these below But this one is an earlier monetary strike. They each have the amount of gold as indicated, more than 1 oz. each. Jim
How fascinating! From the little I read it seems the Mexican government ended the year on 1947 and kept on minting. Are there any obvious signs if one is a restrike or not?
Those are really nice Centenarios! The 1930 is a rare date for this series. My understanding is that the 1947 50 pesos is the frozen date. They certainly show up much more frequently than the earlier dates. The gold 50 pesos is one of the most beautiful designs from the 20th century. I have a few. Here's the first year, 1921.
Nice, I like the early ones, but harder to find in uncirculated condition. It helps to live near the Mexican border. Jim
Hi Jim Do you remember Pat Johnson Coins, Houston? Jed Crump was a main go to for me for Mexican coins back in the 1990s. He was a really nice, knowledgeable guy.
@desertgem how can you tell a 1947 struck in 1947 (i.e. not a restrike) from a from a 1947 restrike from a later year?
That's a tough one. Apparently there are differences in the dies used for the restrikes, but I cannot tell you specifically what they are, but it seems that "newness" is a factor. Also, it seems that the gold restrikes are of a redder hue, but that's just a perception on my part.
I do not believe you can be accurate in determining. NGC says in print that they can't tell the difference and they previously labeled all 1947 as restrikes. I can't find a statement by PCGS but all 1947 I have seen says restrikes, and I guess @Insider could tell us about ICG. Jim
When I was offered these in a flip, I was so enthralled I didn't care. Gold was close to $100 an ounce and that was a lot of money then . Jim
No, I don't. I only even visited Texas for the first time in 2000. It was for an Anatomy and Physiology convention in Dallas. I did get to go to a Bull riding event, first time also. I never realized how big the Bull really was and how important the Clown was !!!! Jim
Here are a couple of receipts for two gold coins that I purchased in 1977, in Detroit, at Manufacturer's Nation Bank, a 1947 50 pesos and a 1959 20 pesos. You could buy gold coins back then at commercial banks.
Rex Allen was a 1950's actor and singer who was the last "singing cowboy" of the movies. His 1950 film "Under Mexicali Stars" was about the smuggling of Mexican 50 peso Centenario gold coins and featured Rex hanging from the bottom of a helicopter. Rex holds a Mexican 50 peso coin for the camera: My Mexico 50 Pesos: Mexico 50 pesos 1944
I heard from a collector that the 1947 restrikes were in part to get around the US ban on private ownership of gold which ended in 1974. I believe numismatic gold was excepted from the ban, so gold which was indistinguishable from the original series allowed people to quietly accumulate gold.
The Mexican 50 Peso is a nice coin. The Mexican silver Libertad is also a nice coin. What I haven't figured out is why silver Libertad's are sometimes sold at a higher price than silver Eagles.
Some collectors of Libertad onzas collect by date. Some dates are somewhat scarce, so they sell at higher prices. I don't know if this is also true for Eagles. I have a preference for the kind of funky onzas of 1978-1980. The date 1978 is scarce, so it was fun to go through a bag of these coins and pick out that date. Now, with the price of silver rising, that is not an option for me. Actually I haven't bought onzas in bulk for about 15 years.
