SBG: BENITO JUAREZ'S STORY THROUGH COINS

Benito Juárez has one of the most incredible rags to riches stories in political history. He grew up poor in a small village in the Oaxaca mountains, was orphaned young, and didn't speak Spanish until he was about twelve. He worked his way up through Oaxaca's legal and political ranks, and eventually became president of Mexico.

The presidency he inherited was immediately tested in dramatic fashion. Mexico was deeply in debt, and when Juárez suspended payments to foreign creditors, France, Britain, and Spain intervened militarily. Britain and Spain withdrew once their financial claims were addressed, but France, under Napoleon III, used the opportunity to attempt an outright conquest, eventually installing the Austrian archduke Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. This triggered the French Intervention, during which Juárez led a government in exile, moving from city to city.

The Mexican resistance against the French occupation is where Juárez earned the reputation that defines him. The Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, commemorated as Cinco de Mayo, was an early and symbolically important Mexican victory, though the French ultimately did occupy Mexico City.

The tide turned by the late 1860s, helped significantly by the end of the American Civil War, which freed the United States to pressure France diplomatically and allow arms support for the Juaristas. French troops withdrew in 1867, and Maximilian was captured and executed on Juárez's order, a decision that was controversial even among his allies but which Juárez defended as necessary to demonstrate that Mexico would not tolerate imposed foreign rule.

Juárez was reelected president in 1867 and again in 1871, governing until his death from a heart attack in 1872. His legacy lives on in Mexico today, as seen on the coins below, all coming up in our November 2026 Latin America Collectors Choice Online Auction.

Lot 72273 – MEXICO. Oaxaca. 5 Centavos, 1915. NGC MS-63 Brown.

Lot 72265 – MEXICO. Oaxaca. 20 Pesos, 1915-TM. NGC MS-64.

Lot 72271 – MEXICO. Oaxaca. 50 Centavos, 1915. NGC AU-58.

Lot 72272 – MEXICO. Oaxaca. 20 Centavos, 1915. NGC MS-61.

Lot 72466 – MEXICO. Benito Juarez/Centenary of the Victory of the Republic Gold Medal, (1967)-Mo. Mexico City Mint. PCGS MS-66.

Lot 72466 – MEXICO. Centennial of the Death of Benito Juarez Gold Medal, 1972-Mo. Mexico City Mint. PCGS MS-67.

View all lots in the November 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction at StacksBowers.com.

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