RARE MEXICAN SILVER PATTERN COIN SURFACES

 

A coin collector and part-time dealer named Adrian Coro, who specializes in circulating Mexican coinage, recently made the find of a lifetime when he came across a Mexican 1947 silver 50 centavos coin that numismatists did not think even existed.

The piece is so rare that officials from the Banco de Mexico, which oversees the mint, said they have never seen an example, and it is not part of their legendary collection of Mexican coins that rivals the Smithsonian's collection of American coins in its completeness. The piece is believed to be what collectors like to call one of one, or unique.

After purchasing it as part of a large collection of Mexican coins from someone who had been a serious collector from the 1950s to the '70s, Coro submitted it to NGC for grading while attending the FUN Show in January 2022.

When it came back, NGC said it was a silver pattern piece that grades MS64 and noted the left-facing bust of 19th-century Mexican political leader Benito Juarez on the coin's reverse. There are also inscriptions for 50 Centavos; 7 gr. for 7 grams; 0.500, the silver fineness; Mo for Mexico; and 1947.

A check of the Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901 to 2000 turns up a similar pattern – a 1 Peso silver coin from 1947 that is described as having the same design combination as the piece in question that is valued at $2,600 in the 2015 edition. But there is no reference to a 50 Centavos silver pattern from 1947 with that design. The only pattern 50 Centavos from this period is from 1945, but that one was made of copper-nickel and valued at $1,350 in the same edition.

Coro grew up in Puerto Rico and Florida and began collecting coins with his father, a Cuban exile, at age six. After collecting the coins of Puerto Rico, he moved on to Mexican coins and is very close to finishing a complete set from 1905 to date. He calls himself an old school collector who is only interested in coins that circulated and does not collect silver Libertads, which he sees more as medals or perhaps bullion since they do not carry a denomination.

He believes that because his pattern – which, amazingly, he said had been tossed aside as nothing special when he found it in a large collection — has apparently never been seen before and because it could be unique, it is likely one of the rarest Mexican coins of at least the 20th century, if not further back.

To read the complete article, see:
The Coin Analyst: Extremely Rare Mexican Silver Pattern Coin Surfaces (https://coinweek.com/world-coins/the-coin-analyst-extremely-rare-mexican-silver-pattern-coin-surfaces/)

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