The Types of Silver Viva Mexico Mintages

Cobs

• The first Cob mint was established in 1536 in Mexico City during Spanish colonial rule. The initial silver Mexican coins termed "cobs" were crude, emblem imprinted, oddly shaped silver lumps, trimmed to correct weight. They had small denominations of ¼, ½, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 reales and assayer's initials conveying weight and fineness guarantee.

  During King Phillip V's reign from 1700 to 1746 bulky reales issued in .931 silver featured the royal insignia, a cross, legends and denominations of real ½, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16. The 16 Real equaled one gold Escudo.

  Forged silver reales denominated 4 and 8, weighing 13.54g and 27.07g correspondingly, and bearing the emblem of King Philip V's son Louis, who ruled briefly in 1724, were issued in 1724 and 1725. Financial pressures from subsequent political unrests until 1732 caused production of lower .916 purity silver coins.

Milled Mexico Mintages

• After 1732, mint machine milling gave Mexican coins better shape. In 1772, silver mintage under Spain's King Charles III's Mexican colonial rule featured lower .903 quality silver and denominations of reales, ¼, ½, 1, 2, 4 and 8 weighing .845g, 1.69g, 3.38g, 6.77g, 13.54g and 27.07g respectively; the numismatic appearance of the king's portrait debuted in these coins and continued thereafter. Identical coin attributes continued during Charles IV's 1788-1808 reign.

  Under the Spanish ruler King Ferdinand, VII .917 holed silver reales were minted.

  Cast silver reales production marked Father Miguel Hidalgo led the Mexican liberation revolution phase in 1810.

Post Spanish Colonialism Mexico Mintage

• The end of Spanish colonial rule led to the sprouting of numerous silver mints throughout Mexico.

  Post-independence, during Emperor Augustin de Iturbide's rule in 1822, .903 fine silver coins denominated at 1/2, 1, 2 and 8 reales were more popular than gold Escudo coins.

  Following Iturbide's abdication and execution, the 1824 to 1863 despotic rule period of Mexico by the military dictator Santa Anna drained the treasury, nearly causing national bankruptcy. Hence, 0.903 fineness silver reales were used only for high denominations of 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4 and 8 though they featured old weights; lower denominated 1/16, 1/8, ¼ coins were made of copper or bronze.

  The next emperor, Maximilian, decimalized Mexican coinage and introduced centavos and pesos during his 1863-1867 rule; 100 centavos equaled a peso.

1905 Monetary Reform Mintages

• The Mexican Republic's new monetary system has legible coins with fewer denominations; Mexico City was the only mintage region.

  The 1905 dollar-sized Mexican coin contained 0.786 ounces of silver.

Other Mexico Mintages

• The silver coin weight was 0.4663 ounces in 1918, 0.3856 ounces in 1920, 0.2250 ounces in 1947 and 0.1285 ounces in 1950. In 1957 the silver coin weight was 0.0514 ounces. In 1970, silver mintage was stopped and replaced by copper-nickel alloy coins.

  The 40.6mm diameter Mexican Silver Libertad coin of 1949 with .999 purity silver and weighing 1 ounce was famous for its "independence angel" print. This coin's annual mintage in superior proof and less perfect uncirculated collector sets was restarted in 1982.