Hi, I picked up a 1962 un peso Mexican coin today. The dealer looked it up in (I think) krause and it says silver content is .100 However there is one on Ebay now and the seller says the silver content is .500 So my question is, what is the silver content of a 1962 Mexican un peso? Also I paid $4.00 for it in AU58. Is that about right? Thanks.
Your dealer is right. This coin has a silver content of 0.100 . I think you paid a fair price, though a bit higher than catalog value, which is 1.75$ for Unc. On the other hand, here in Europe 4 to 5 $ for Unc is a fair price for this coin.
Bart & Victor,the term 'Billon' is applied to any coin of .100 fine silver.It typically contains 90% copper.A lot of German states issued billon coins,especially the 1/2,1,& 2-1/2 Silbergroschen from such states as Prussia & Hanover. Aidan.
Thanks guys for the info. I've seen these around and always wanted one. Yes, I knew they were only10 percent. Kind of a poor man's Libertad. Is anyone collecting Mexican un pesos?
The Morelos peso is not the only Mexican coin with 0.100 silver fineness. Another peso issued in 1957 commemorating the centenary of constitution has a 0.100 too, but worth more due to lower mintage.
My understanding is that the term "billion" refers to any silver alloy coin of less than .500 fine silver.
I have read in books on ancient coins that the term "billon" refers to a coin made mainly of copper with the remainder in usually silver, but in rare cases gold. So I assume it would be anything with less than 50% silver or gold with the rest copper.
I have a 1958 1 Peso w/ Jose Morelos on it...one of my first coin buys... http://www.tribalsoup.com/cache/peso01.htm
I'm not normally one to resurrect posts that are very old, so my apologies. I had been wondering on the silver content of the alloy of these coins.....are they just silver plated copper/brass or is it a conventionally mixed alloy. I've heard it both ways. I took the ugliest and most beat up one I have (a 1962) and filed down a bit of the reverse to see what was underneath. I figured it couldn't hurt since it was so ugly, was a freebie at the LCS, and in Mexico they are mainly melted for their silver anyway. It was blast white underneath the toning, so most likely not plated but a regular mixed alloy. I'll probably give it to my kids to play with. They like looking at my coins.
Shame to see a damaged a coin to get info that is readily available... please don't encourage your kids to do that!
Other than the 40% silver halves from 1965-1970 and the Ike S-mint dollars from 1971-1976 and Bicentennial quarter, half and dollar from San Francisco, the only other billon coins issued by the US are the War Nickels from 1942-5.
I've always found Mexico's silver coinage to be somewhat confusing due to all the changes in fineness over the years. From .903 to .72 to .5 to .1 to zilch; what a ride!
