The early 8 Reales of the first Oaxaca mint reflect a wide variety of interesting die varieties, each drastically different from one another in quality of workmanship and artistic expression. Within the span of a few years, styles range from quite detailed and well-executed to what could be described as among the poorest quality in the entire Cap & Ray series. It is fairly evident from the coins themselves that the Oaxaca mint encountered numerous problems in its early years of production including flatness of strike and improperly annealed dies that wore out or broke prematurely. Clearly, the mint was operating at a technologically level inferior to that of other Mexican mints.
One of the most interesting features of these early coins is that they permit us to correlate the coins to each other and thus trace the die lineage. Several of this period’s early die styles were produced in very small quantities and in some cases, only one set of dies were made. This permits us to link one style to the next in a conclusive manner. For example, the reverse die of the 1858-0 (fig. 2) is the same as that for the 1859-Oa (fig. 3).
However, the obverse die style of the 1859-Oa is unique to this year (figs. 3-4). Coins from this die often have large vertical die crack, sometimes spanning the entire length of the die, confirming that this die style was only used in 1859. Obviously, the die broke and became so damaged that is could no longer be used, leading to a new obverse die style the following year. As is evident from the diagonal die crack (starting at about 7 o’clock), the first issue of 1860 (fig. 5) continued using the same reverse die of the 1859. It appears that this die was retired temporarily since the second issue of 1860 (fig. 6) uses a reverse die unique to this year. However, the second reverse die used in 1860 seems to have not lasted very long. As it is clear from the coin pictured in fig. 6, this reverse die had broken to the point where it could no longer be used. Due to its extreme rarity, it is certain that this reverse die broke fairly early after its production.
The coin pictured in fig. 7 represents a previously unpublished muling in which the obverse die style of 1861-1862 is paired with the reverse die of 1859-1860. Apparently, after the reverse die of 1860 broke, the mint reverted to using the reverse die 1859-1860, since that die was still functional. This coin, along with several other examples, was part of a large hoard of Oaxaca mint 8 Reales of this period found in the 1990s.
In terms of the quality of its die workmanship, the coinage of the die style of 1861-1862 can be considered among the crudest in the entire Cap & Ray series. The overall design elements lack artistic refinement, the letters in the legends are placed unevenly and crudely engraved local punches replace worn out or broken punches (e.g., the “EP” of “REPUBLICA”, see figs. 9-12). As with the previous dates in this series, these coins exhibit multiple problems in manufacture, such as flatness of strike, improperly annealed dies, etc. However, unlike the earlier coinage, many different dies were produced in the style of 1861-1862, some examples of this can be seen in figs. 8-12.
In 1863, a reformation took place and remedied many of the problems associated with the coinage issues of the previous two years. Several new die styles were introduced and gradually evolved until the end of 1863, at which point the mint ceased to strike coins until it re-opened in 1867 (see figs. 13-18, for examples).
During this brief four-year period, the coinage of Oaxaca provides the numismatist with a wealth of variety, a large measure of confusion and numerous unanswered questions. Collectors and catalogers have long been confused over how to organize the coinage of this period. There are three different mintmarks and two assayers. Some have chosen to organize by date and then note the mintnark variety and assayer for each coin. Others have preferred to list the coins by mintmark and then by date and assayer under each mintmark.
For years Dunigan and Parker{footnote}footnote}Mike Dunigan and J. B. Parker, Resplandores: Cap and Rays 8 Reales of the Republic of Mexico 1823-1897, Superior Stamp and Coin company, Beverly Hills CA.,1997{/footnote}{/footnote} wondered how and why any mint could produce coins so drastically different in style, fabric, and quality. Why would they use two mintnarks in some years and three in another?
There were the extremely crude issues of 1861 and 1862 with the a inside O rnintnark and the FR assayer. At the same time there was a nicely styled and much better executed issue that bad the O mintmark also with the FR initials. In 1863 the issue with the O mintmark and the FR initials continued in the same style of the two previous years, but there appeared three different coins with the assayer's initials AE. One was nicely styled and deeply engraved with the a inside O mintmark. Another, which was also nicely styled and bore some similarity to the preceding coin had the unusual mintmark of an a above the O. The two preceding coins are very rare and seldom encountered, but the third coin, which also bears the assayer's initials AE, has only the O mintmark. This last coin is nicely styled with good die workmanship. It is similar to, but better executed than the a above O mintmark issue of the same year.
In trying to organize this in a satisfactory way, Dunigan and Parker kept running into a wall. When they tried to sort by date nothing made sense. When they tried sorting by mintmark the styles did not match up and overlapped. Sorting by assayer was equally fruitless. In short, nothing made any logical sense. Finally, out of frustration, they decided to practice what they preached and listen to the coins. To make a long story short, it became apparent that there were two mints working simultaneously in Oaxaca. Both of these mints were striking coins from 1861 through 1863 and operating under the same assayer in 1861 and 1862. Their equipment would have been very different, accounting for the major differences in quality and style.
The first of these mints produced the crude 1861 and 1862 issues with the a inside O mintmark and later the three 1863 AE issues. Dunigan and Parker consider this the first mint because it is their theory, based on the mintmark (a inside O) and the fact that production seems to have continued uninterrupted, that this is the mint where the previous Oaxaca coinage was struck. They have no explanation for the marked deterioration in style between 1860 and 1861.
The second mint probably opened in the latter part of 1861, based on the relative rarity of the 1861 issue. The mintmark change to O (no a) was undoubtedly to identify the new mint. The mint operated, apparently continuously, from 1861 to 1864 maintaining the same Die Style and most likely using the same punches. All issues from this mint bear the assayer initials FR.
KM-377.11 8r 1870 Oa AE
The 8 reales of 1870 has an interesting history. The Mint of Oaxaca minted 8 reales in 1869, but stopped doing so with the decree of 27 November 1867 in which President Benito Juárez implemented the decimal system in Mexico, ordering the minting of pesos and centavos. This mint, along with the one in Mexico City, was the first to mint Balance pesos in 1869. Later, with the decree of President Lerdo de Tejada on 30 May 1873, decimal coins were ordered stopped, so the system of reales was restored, and Oaxaca re-minted 8 reales in 1873.
In 1997, Antonio Deana Salmerón published an article on this coin{footnote}Antonio Deana Salmerón, "The So-called 8 Reales de Oaxaca Coin of 1870" in El Boletín Numismatico, 1997, available on the USMexNA online library{/footnote}. He recorded that Henry Christensen, a prominent dealer in Spanish-American coins in Madison, New Jersey, in compiling an inventory of 8 reales, listed a 8 Reales 1870 A.E. as belonging to the Pradeau collection. Pradeau{footnote}A. F. Pradeau, Numismatic History of Mexico{/footnote} himself illustrated the reverse of this coin in the fourth volume of his Numismatic History of Mexico and Utberg{footnote}{/footnote} also noted two examples of this date. On the other hand, Clyde Hubbard and Theodore Buttrey in their A Guide Book of Mexican Coins 1822 to date{footnote}Clyde Hubbard and Theodore Buttrey, A Guide Book of Mexican Coins 1822 to date, {/footnote}) did not list the 1870 8 reales.
KM-408-6 $1 1870 Oa E
Deana Salmerón decided that the mint was producing Balance Scale pesos in 1870 and that the various examples of this coin were contemporary counterfeits. He notes that “a significant and most important detail is that the 1870 coin illustrated in Dr. Pradeau's book shows the Oa mint mark which was not used until 1873. If this coin had been struck at the Oaxaca Mint, it is logical to believe that the O alone would have been used as it was progressively from 1861 to 1869. This is of vital importance since it gives us the key to determine that this coin is a fake. Additionally, in 1870 it was not known that the mint was to return to the striking of 8 Reales. Consequently, no new logotype as mintmark had been designed. All this tells us that the counterfeiting of these coins must have been done after 1873 when the Oa mintmark was used."
The case of the Oaxaca 8 R 1870 is not the only one as there is the one peso 1870 San Luis Potosi with the initial "H" which never existed but was registered in special catalogs for more than 30 years as well as several 8 Reales from Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Mexico, San Luis Potosi and many others from other mints whose assayer initials never existed.
Real de Catorce ia an area with quite a few silver mines in the state of San Luis Potosí, 144 miles north of the capital city.
The miners had to send the silver to the capital for coinage, for which they paid costs such as transportation, discounts, commissions and taxes, so the settlers always had the idea of establishing a mint to avoid these complications. Another problem was that the road from the town to the capital of San Luis Potosí had gaps and bad terrain which caused delays in the delivery of the ore and the return in silver coin: this caused a lack of circulating currency in Real del Catorce which in turn caused an overvaluation of the prices of silver and the circulating currency.
On 12 September 1861 the federal government approved[text needed] the erection of two mint in San Luis Potosí (although the San Luis Potosí mint was already in operation since the decree of 30 March 1827[text needed]). A short time later, on 23 September, the contract[text needed] for the lease of the Mint of San Luis Potosí for a period of ten years was signed, with the commitment to install new machinery.
Since the government united both mints as one, the lease contract for both mints went to Senator Cayetano Rubio, who led a group of powerful miners in the area, but due to the instability of the time he had to cede the contract (made up of all his shares) to the brothers Víctor and Anacleto García y Cortina of Cortina y Compañía. In order to establish the Catorce mint they partnered with Santos de la Maza and Francisco de la Maza{footnote}for more información on de la Maza, see Pedro Cosi de la Maza, “Don Santos de la Maza and The Mint of de Catorce”, in El Boletín, Vol. VI, No. 53, October-December 1966 , Sociedad Numismática de México (available on the USMexNA online library){/footnote}. Rubio's contract with the government was for 47,000 pesos in cash and 53,000 pesos in bonds, in addition to a loan to the government for 187,903 pesos with an annual interest rate of 6%, for a period of ten years,
the Real de Catorce mint
The minting machinery was purchased in Philadelphia from the Makers and Morgan Company, by Anacleto Terán and Anastasio García, the cost of the equipment being $80,000 gold pesos. All the tools were shipped and installed in the facilities that Santos de la Maza had built in the main square of the town, at a cost of $80,000. For a short time, the San Luis Potosí mint lent machinery to Catorce while the one they had requested arrived. In the same vein, a new lease was requested from President Juárez, which was granted for a new extension of ten years[text needed].
Despite the above, problems were not long in coming. At the end of 1863, a letter signed by the military commander, Manuel Bailen, arrived ordering the suspension of all work. There was great pressure in San Luis Potosí due to the arrival of the Imperialist forces, who had already taken the capital and secured its Mint. Real del Catorce was taken over from December 1863 to March 1866, with the mint closing in 1864, reopening the following year.
On 23 January 1864, the Juaristas fled from Matehuala and the Imperialists immediately entered Real de Catorce, On that same date, the cabildo of the capital of San Luis Potosí requested the closure of the Real del Catorce mint by the wishes of the Imperial Regency. On 11 December 1864, Juárez ordered the closure of the mint (despite it being in the hands of the Imperialists), and a counter-order for its opening was given on 3 January 1865.
So, during its period of operation (1863 to 1869), the Real de Catorce mint went through two wars: the War of Reform and the French Intervention. It is worth mentioning that from 1857 to 1861 there were ten governors of the state, a sign of the constant change of ideals of the time.
The mint began operations on 17 May 1863 by die-cutting the first silver coins of 2, 4 and 8 reales, There were small interruptions but the die-cutting work continued until 28 November. The Juaristas were in the town before leaving and witnessed the first coinage of the new mint, it is even said that President Juárez himself was present (hypothesis not confirmed).
Upon the arrival of Emperor Maximilian, fearful that Juárez's forces might take over the mint, he ordered its closure. Several letters were sent to the Emperor by the city council and citizens to revoke the decision, but Maximilian did not budge and the order stood.
In addition to these first complications, the governor of the state, Santos Degollado, imposed a forced loan of $20,000 on Real del Catorce: the leading miners as well as the city council refused to grant them, so Santos de la Maza was arrested. Due to this bad behaviour, a new forced loan for $35,000 was imposed shortly after, but as the coffers were almost empty, only less than half could be collected.
In August 1866 the town was again occupied by the Liberal colonel Pedro Martínez. The colonel's troops looted the town but found no more than 300 pesos: the soldiers broke into the facilities of the (now inactive) mint, stole machines and materials and broke the rest. It is important to mention that the minting presses had been moved to the capital in previous years, so the vandals only destroyed minor machinery.
The order to close the mint sent by Maximilian was administratively enforced in February 1866 through General Mejía with the main objective that the Juaristas could not make money. Months before, he had made administrative changes in the workforce of several mints, including Real del Catorce. Thus, in February 1866 he appointed Francisco Villar as assayer at Real del Catorce. Villar resigned shortly after, so in March of the same year Trinidad Gómez Gordillo was appointed assayer. However, neither of these has their initials on coins as "M.L." (Mariano León) appears on all issues.
In February 1865, the Prefect of the Empire, Darios de los Reyes, mentioned in a report that Real del Catorce mint represented losses to the treasury, compared to other mints, and requested that the contract be reviewed and nullified.
Due to all these complications, the town gradually lost its years of splendour, people closed their businesses and left, many moving to Matehuala taking advantage of the fact that it was also a relevant mining area. When Juárez restored the Republic, peace and security gradually returned, but stability was really consolidated in the last two decades of the nineteenth century during the administration of President Porfirio Díaz: In those years Real del Catorce returned to functioning, the mines re-opened and businesses returned to work.
Finally, the State Legislature decreed the closure of the Mint on 15 November 1869, approved by the governor of the state, General Mariano Escobedo. Minting operations ceased on 28 November 1869{footnote}Pradeau,(/footnote). In a last attempt at survival, the Legislature approved a request to maintain the assay office until 1872, the year in which all operations officially ended.
During its years of operations Real de Catorce minted currency for a total of 6,281,008.25 pesos, 95% of it in 8 reales coins. However, it seems that this amount refers only to the coins minted in 1863. Montejano Aguiñaga{footnote}Rafael Montejano y Aguiñaga, “Las Acuñaciones de El Real del Catorce, S.L.P.” in Gaceta de la Sociedad Numismática de Monterrey, April 1980{/footnote} reports that the mint produced coins for $1,321,545 in 1865 and $167,860 pesos in 1866, which should probably be added to the previous amount. Pradeau mentions that the mint was reopened on 16 February 1865, minting in that same month 65,000 pesos.
Pomposo Sanabria was an engraver in San Luis Potosí from 1827 to 1861, and worked for Real de Catorce from 1863. In the 8 Reales coins of 1863 we can find the variety "Ce/Pi" this is due to the fact that several dies from San Luis Potosí were re-used in Real de Catorce, with only the mint and assayer changed in the matrix. There is also a ML/C variety, that is, with the Catorce assayer Mariano León, on a coin previously used in San Luis Potosí by the assayer M.C. (Mariano Cataño).
As a final reflection we can find several reasons why this mint was not a success despite being in a rich mining area. The first was its proximity to the mint of the capital, San Luis Potosí. In history this proximity to other mints always ends badly, as happened to the mint of Tlalpan with that of Mexico City. A second reason was the the political situation, with the conflict between the pro-imperialist conservatives and the pro-Juárez liberals. Thirdly, Real del Catorce is in a complicated geographical area, which made it difficult to transport and distribute its silver. And finally, the mint had the envy of its neighbour in Mexico City. Before the mint was established in Real de Catorce all the silver was sent to the capital (which opened its mint in 1827): when this ceased it angered the capital's residents.
The building where the Mint was located was returned to Santos de la Maza, where it became his offices, known as "Casa Maza." Today it is the "Centro Cultural Real del Catorce" where cultural events are held.
The only date is 1863. Dunigan & Parker {footnote}Mike Dunigan and Parker, Resplandores, 1998{/footnote} argue that in 1864 and 1865 coins were dated 1863, so as not to offend the Imperialists, who had arrived in Mexico in 1864. On this same subject, Richard G. Doty{footnote}Richard G. Doty, 1992{/footnote} suggests that during the period of the Second Empire (1863-1867) multiple mints minted coins with dates prior to the intervention, such as Mexico City or Zacatecas, of which there is an abundance of coins from 1863, compared to other nearby years. This was because the tenants of the mint, not knowing how the precarious social, economic and political situation of the time would turn out, preferred to "shield" themselves and avoid trouble.
KM-374.1 2r 1863 Ce ML (Stack’s Bowers auction, 16 May 2023, lot 70509)
| Date | Asssayer | Recorded Mintage |
Comment |
| 1863 | ML |
KM-375 4r 1863 Ce ML large C (Stack’s Bowers auction, 24 June 2021, lot 72358)
| Date | Asssayer | Recorded Mintage |
Comment |
| 1863 | ML | large C | |
| 1863 | ML | small C (illustrated below) |
KM-375 4r 1863 Ce ML small C (Stack’s Bowers auction, 23 February 2022, lot 37442)
KM-377.1 8r 1863 Ce ML (Stack’s Bowers NYINC auction, 14 January 2017, lot 3162)
| Date | Asssayer | Recorded Mintage |
Comment |
| 1863 | ML |
Counterfeit KM-377.1 8r 1863 Ce ML (Briggs & Bustos Counterfeit issues II, 10 August 2025, lot 61)
Cast silver. 39 mm in diameter, 26.86 grams, coin alignment. Two small rays beneath the cap, popularly known as “Dragon’s Teeth,” were introduced as an “anti-counterfeiting security feature” in 1867 at the Mexico City mint and later standardized across all mints until the 1880s. No official coin from 1863 bears this feature, which confirms this is a reproduction made after the original period. On the obverse, the eagle has a style more in line with issues from 1867 to the 1880s, with a slightly more robust body and well-defined feathering. Loss of border design, crude edge design. Metal composition: 88.49% Silver, 10.33% Copper, 0.91% Zinc, 0.14% Gold, 0.11% Lead.
There is a possibility, according to Pradeau{footnote}{/footnote}, that copper coins were issued at the mint in mid-1864, since there is a document that obliges the citizens of the area to accept as official currency the copper coins are minted at the Mint[text needed].
This coin{footnote}listed in Frank W. Grove, Tokens of Mexico, with number 2022{/footnote} was minted (or restamped) on cuartillas or octavos of San Luis Potosí dated in 1859. The diameter of the piece is 21 millimetres, the restamp "Ce" is the abbreviation of the mint. There are varieties in stamps, the rarest being the one with stars surrounding the "Ce".
| from | to | |
| 12 February 1861 | 28 November 1869 |
Jorge Santos de la Maza, Miguel M. de Alavia and Viceme lrizan
|
| Initial | Name | Began on | Left office on |
| ML | Mariano León{footnote}Mariano de León received an annual salary of $1,500 pesos for his services{/footnote} | 1863 | 1863 |
According to Ward{footnote}H. Ward, México en 1827, México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, pp. 601-603.{/footnote}, before the official establishment of the San Luis Potosí mint, most of the bars were sent to Zacatecas for minting, which is understandable if one considers that the Zacatecan mint was founded in 1824, before the one in San Luis Potosí.
During the first constitutional government in the hands of Ildefonso Díaz de León (25 March 1827-1828), the establishment of the mint formally began. Decree 25 issued in San Luis Potosí on 5 July 1825{footnote}Archivo Histórico del Estado de San Luis Potosí ("HESLP"), Fondo Secretaría General de Gobierno ("SGG"), Colección de Leyes y Decretos ("CLD"), Decreto 25, 5 July 1825.{/footnote} established the mint to stamp metals in accordance with the law,, empowering it to form contracts for its establishment with companies or with some individual, subject to the approval of Congress{footnote}M. Muro, Historia de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Imprenta, Litografía y Encuadernación de M. Esquivel y Cía, 1910, tomo 1, p. 405.{/footnote}.
The State decreed on 20 March 1827[text needed] that the coinage duties would be the income of the government, in such a way that the project began with the supervision and interest of Díaz de León, then considered "capitalist of this city"{footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 12 November 1887{/footnote}.
According to Gómez del Campo's review, the governor contributed with his own financial resources for such an enterprise, and according to León, he lent the first 100 silver bars to begin the minting; the product remained for years as a reserve fund{footnote}León, op. cit., p. 22; Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 12 November 1887{/footnote}. In its original version the Mint is conceptualized such as a coinage workshop, in which Manuel Ramos, who had been in the mint of Zacatecas and collaborated in the formation of the respective plans{footnote}León, op. cit., p. 21.{/footnote}, was director of material works, in charge of the assembly of the machinery and director of the mint{footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 12 November 1887{/footnote}, for decades.
The building it occupied was built from 1826 to 1828 in the fourth block of the 12th quarter. It was inaugurated on 1 October 1827.
The Mint then had a director, accountant and engraver, as the highest positions as to the salaries paid. On the other hand, the first assayer at that time was also an important position, occupied by Juan N. Sanabria; the ensayador de cajas was José Ignacio Carrillo{footnote}Periódico Oficial, 12 November 1887{/footnote}. The positions, such as assayer and commissary general in charge of the inspection of the mints{footnote}decree of 16 November 1824{/footnote}, were appointed by the general government by virtue of the fact that the Mint was within its competence.
The Mint began activities on 1 October 1827 with the minting of silver coins; that of gold was not possible due to the scarcity of the metal in the state of San Luis Potosí{footnote}Periódico Oficial, 26 November 1887{/footnote}.
On 28 May 1887, copper coins worth 100,000 pesos were ordered to be minted, {footnote}AHESLP, SGG, CLD, Decreto 112, 28 May 1828.{/footnote}, a coin that suffered recurrent counterfeiting{footnote}Inocencio Noyola, “La formación de un delito: fabricación y circulación de moneda falsa en San Luis Potosí, 1868-1909”, en Historia Judicial Mexicana. Criminalidad y delincuencia en México, 1840-1938, México, Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, 2009, pp. 1-23.{/footnote}.
According to the law of 23 October 1835{text needed}, the revenues belonged to the nation, as the foundations for the operation of a new system. Manuel Ramos, who had been director from the beginning of the mint, was removed, supposedly for his liberal orientation; Ignacio de Lara, the accountant, took his place. However, in 1844 Manuel Ramos returned to the directorship until the end of 1855, the year in which an inspection exposed problems.
The law of 17 January 1836{text needed} determined that only silver or gold coins should be produced, so the dies and instruments of other coins were ordered to be destroyed.
In 1846 the federal republic was re-established. The law of 17 September 1849{text needed} determined that the mints belonged to the federation. In 1849 General Santa Anna passed with his army through San Luis Potosí and collected 98 silver bars from the Mint, for which he left a message to the director stating that by virtue of the fact that the government did not send him resources for maintenance of his army, he saw the need to make this 'forced loan' that would serve for such purposes{footnote}León, op. cit., p. 22.{/footnote}. The bars were valued at 110,000 pesos. It is striking that he guaranteed the 'loan' with a codicil where he committed his personal assets until the Ministry of Finance settled the debt. According to the information available, the general government liquidated 87,000 pesos, from the payment that the United States made for ceded territory.
The general government opened the possibility of leasing the San Luis Potosí Mint during the state government of Dr. Joaquín López Hermosa, in such a way that he tried to deal with the then president, General Ignacio Comonfort, for the San Luis Potosí government to be granted the lease of the mint, but without success{footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 3 December 1887{/footnote}. Rather Comonfort's government granted the lease to Cayetano Rubio, then an senator, on 7 September 1857. Rubio's lease cost 100,000 pesos, divided into two parts: 47,000 pesos in cash and 53,000 in national bonds. Rubio lent the government the sum of 187,903 pesos with interest of 6% per annum, and a mortgage guarantee for the building and machinery{footnote}León, op. cit., p. 23.{/footnote}. The contract included coinage for a radius of 100 leagues around the mint, which of course covered the jurisdiction of Real de Catorce{footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 7 December 1887{/footnote}.
On 12 September, five days after the signing, Rubio ceded half of the shares to the brothers Víctor and Anacleto García and the Tampico company Cortina y Compañía. In December of the same year, he ceded the other half to García and Cortina. It is evident therefore that Rubio was an agent who interceded in the negotiation, since he did not carry out the project.
On 23 September 1861, the landlords applied for a new lease from Benito Juárez's government, which granted a ten-year lease, to end on 31 June 1871, but the French Intervention followed.
The 1861 contract granted permission to establish a mint in Real de Catorce and renovate the San Luis Potosí mint. García left for the United States in 1863 to look for new machinery in order to manufacture higher quality coins. The following year, the machinery produced by Morgan Orr & Co. of Philadelphia arrived to be installed in Real de Cartorce where it operated from 1865 to 1866.
It was at this historical juncture that García, Cortina and Company associated themselves with Santos and Francisco de la Maza in order to establish and manage the mint in Real de Catorce. Certainly the two casas were under the administration of García, Cortina and Cía, but there was still a dispute between the two mints. This struggle between the interests of the merchants and mining businessmen located in the state capital and those focused on Real de Catorce led the latter to request support from Tomás Mejía while he remained in Matehuala. The Mint of Real de Catorce was completed in January 1865, with a cost of approximately 80,000 pesos.
As in the Potosi mint, the director was Anacleto García. and the employees hired to put the Real de Catorce mint into operation were also the who worked in San Luis Potosí, for example the administrator was Francisco de P. Segura; the controller, Francisco J. Estrada; the assayer, Romualdo Obregón; the accountant, Francisco de P. Rentería; the fiel de moneda, Crisóforo Jaime; the engraver, Pomposo Sanabria; Mariano de León was the ensaydor de caja. This is explained by the importance of the mining area in the volume of production of silver in the state, since approximately 50% of the silver minted in San Luis Potosí came from of that mining space{footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 4 April 1888{/footnote}, hence the resistance of the lessors of the San Luis Potosí mint to open another Mint.
At the closure of the Real de Catorce Mint, the machinery acquired was transferred to San Luis Potosí, with modification made to the building{footnote}Ibid, 14 January 1888.{/footnote}.
The closure of the Real de Catorce mint came at the same time as the order that mints that terminated their leases would be taken over by the government.
The law of 24 December 1871[text needed] authorising the export of gold and silver paste from several states, also prohibited the leasing of the mints that the federal government managed and the extension to those in force, as happened with that of the San Luis Potosí mint. The 1861 contract ended in August 1871, at which time José María Gómez del Campo was appointed inspector, who was in that position for about a year, but who occupied various positions between 1867 and 1887{footnote}José María Gómez del Campo was encargado de ensaye de cajas (from 1867 to 1874 when the role was discontinued); visitador (1869): ensayador provisional de moneda (1870); interventor (twice 1870-1873 y 1876-1887); inspector federal (1871-1872); director (various periods); valuador (1873) and ensayador de barras (1877-1887).{/footnote}.
On 26 March 1872, permission was granted to export silver and gold from the state and the lease of the mint was extended for an indefinite period. However, in September 1873, the general government ordered the recovery of the Guanajuato. Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí mints, appointing the respective ensayador de caja as directors. On 28 October of that year, José María Gómez del Campo was in charge of the management{footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 14 December 1887{/footnote}.
By 1875 the federal government administered the mints of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Culiacán, Guadalajara, Durango, Chihuahua, Alamos, Hermosillo and Oaxaca. T The federal contract was terminated in May 1876, andon 23 May a new lease contract was granted to private individuals according to the 1872 contract. In 1880 a five-year extension was granted and the lessee company was authorized to spend 25,000 pesos in technological improvements charged to the government's account. In January 1884 a new extension was madewith the same conditions for investment in technology footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 24 December 1887{/footnote}.
Based on the 1884 contract, an agreement was entered into in September 1886 for the acquisition of Belgian technology. The then manager of the mint, Vicente Irizar and Francisco de P. Segura, its director, made acontact with the director of the Brussels Mint, in order to receive advice on the purchase, importation and adaptation of technology footnote}AGN, Hacienda, Casa de Moneda, vol. 310, exp. 36, 1887, San Luis Potosí. Expediente sobre la solicitud de compra de la maquinaria por parte de la compañía arrendadora.{/footnote}. The idea was to make it in the image and likeness of the Belgian mint. Having made a study of French, American and English offersfootnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 31 July 1886{/footnote}, it was thought that the Belgian offer was superior footnote}El Estandarte, 5 August 1886: 28 October 1886{/footnote}. In order to site the new machinery, further adaptations were made to the building{footnote}Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 14 January 1888{/footnote}.
The inauguration of the new machinery took place on 11 April 11887 in the presence of the governor Carlos Díez Gutiérrez and the city's most important businessmen. The new machinery and the hypothetical efficiency in coinage time did not decrease the problems of the circulating copper curren, especially the copper centavos, which when put into circulation were depreciated by "commerce, to the extent that it has even paid for their export outside the state", as had happened with the last 10,000 pesos probably minted in 1878, and which, according to official information, circulated "almost in their entirety" in Zacatecas footnote}ibid., 18 June 1887{/footnote}, so that there were problems with carrying out retail transactions.
In December of that year, a rumour spread that the government intended to take over the mints that were on lease footnote}ibid., 11 January 1888{/footnote}. At that time, the following are listed as contractors: Víctor García, Anacleto García, Francisco de la Maza, Joaquín de la Maza, Gregorio de la Maza{footnote}these exported exported their silver bars through Tampico and Matamoros, both in Tampico. Ibid.{/footnote}, Antonio Gutiérrez Victory, Rafael Ortiz de la Huerta and the heirs of Genaro de la Fuente. Vicente Irizar was the manager and Rafael Ortiz de la Huerta the attorney (apoderado).
José María Gómez del Campo recognized the importance of mining and its relationship with houses of currency; he appreciated the role of the State as a promoter of coinage and its economic benefits for the income it generated to the coffers footnote} Ibid, 14 de marzo de 1888.{/footnote}; the recovery of Mexican mints for the public treasury was an issue that Matías Romero defended since 1869. However, Gómez del Campo marked the differences between the New Spanish government and the independent one, which had turned the mints into lucrative industrial enterprises. It referred to the leasing by the State, that it only left profits to those who exploited coinage without them existing for the government. So he defended the administration of the houses by the government.
In this decade, coinage faced various phenomena that were intensifying. One of these was related to the lack of money and its implications footnote} AHESLP, SGG, 1890, leg. agosto, 1 Se enfatizaba la falta de moneda de cobre para las transacciones en el municipio de Rayón.{/footnote}. The state government he made arrangements with the federal government to provide a solution to the minting of copper pages footnote} Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 15 de mayo de 1890{/footnote} and on the other hand there was talk of the suspension of the minting of fractional coins footnote} AGN, Hacienda, vol. 310, exp. 37, 1891, San Luis Potosí. Expediente relativo a la suspensión de acuñación de moneda fraccionaria{/footnote}. It was reported that in the district of Valles the copper coin had been amortized and the decimal system footnote} Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 24 de marzo de 1892{/footnote}.
Another problem is the depreciation of silver currency in the international market This happened from 1873 onwards, associated with the debate on the adoption of the gold monetary standard footnote} M. E. Romero Sotelo, “La reforma monetaria de 1905 y su impacto en la economía mexicana. Una análisis de corto plazo”, ponencia en XVI International Economic History Congress, Helsinki, Finland, 21 to 25 August 2006.{/footnote}. Uncertainty is an element present in the mentality of merchants, mining entrepreneurs and the subjects involved in the coinage business in San Luis Potosí footnote} Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 21 de septiembre de 1893{/footnote}. They explain the paralysis of many mining operations, imbalances in demand from major buyers of metal and the reduction of mining activities of extraction, to these phenomena. Other factors that affect the mining economy are the difficulties of agriculture due to the lack of rain footnote} Ibid, 19 de septiembre de 1894.{/footnote}.
On the other hand, in view of the permanent processes of authorization and extensions of leases Due to the absence of a homogeneous criterion on the management and control of Mexican mints, the The 1890s arrived as new provisional provisions while a regulation was issued general for assay offices that would replace the mints footnote} J. Y. Limantour, Secretaría de Estado y del Despacho de Hacienda y Crédito Público, a José María Gómez del Campo, Jefe de la Oficina Federal de Ensaye de San Luis Potosí, México, 13 de mayo de 1893; en Periódico Oficial del Estado de San Luis Potosí, 21 de mayo de 1893.{/footnote}.
The decline of the leases of Mexican mints is also understood from the variable policy, in which Matías Romero, as Secretary of Finance, promoted and consolidated the policy to terminate contracts. So, the houses of Durango, Hermosillo and Guadalajara they closed in 1895, that of Guanajuato in 1900, Zacatecas and Culiacán in 1905. The plan had a logic of centralization of coinage, which would be again in the hands of the Mint of the Mexico City footnote} D. López Rosado, Historia del peso mexicano, México, FCE, 1975.{/footnote}.
The San Luis Potosí Mint was finally closed in April 1893. However, Testing activities continued to be awarded to companies located in the state, such as the Mining Negotiation of Providencia de Charcas footnote} El Estandarte, 6 de enero de 1894.{/footnote}. Certainly, the functions of metal assay; the machinery was transferred to Mexico City.
As already stated, the building that housed the House was owned by the government, in such a way that when it was closed, the Ministry of Finance authorized its sale to Federico on October 15, 1901 J. Meade
The figure of Manuel Ramos as an agent who carries experience and knowledge transmutes to that of a dominant director, but with traditional features in management practices.
.
The appearance of characters such as Cayetano Rubio, a nationally renowned businessman and politician it is conjunctural in the beginning of administrative practice in private hands. Extended networks are transferred to the bosom of the House with the inclusion of external agents such as the Casa García, Cortina and Compañía de Tampico, as well as merchants and businessmen from Real de Catorce and San Luis Potosí, who remain in the portfolio of economic interests for decades.
The role of José María Gómez del Campo with various positions from 1867 to 1887 also it shows the incorporation of new interests and knowledge, which are forged to the sound of depreciation of silver and the return of the policies of centralization of coinage, which lead to the closure of the of the San Luis Potosí Mint in the 1890s.
José Ignacio de Lara {footnote}Diario del Gobierno, 24 June 1843{/footnote}
| Initial | Name | Began on | Left office on |
| SA |
Juan Nepomuceno Sanabria was a polymath. As well as being the first assayer of the San Luis Potosí mint, he was also a professor of "medical surgery" and had knowledge of architecture. He was responsible for the Cañada de Lobo aqueduct that in 1831 brought drinking water to the city. Sanabria was not paid for his work but was awarded a gold medal in the reverse of which read: "For his philanthropy, working gratuitously to supply water to the City (Por su philantropía, trabajando gratuitamente para surtir el agua a la Ciudad)”.He had in his heart “a great, generous, feeling that never stops within the petty limits of private interest."{footnote}{/footnote} In 1835 Sanabria wrote an article about the Mexican mints, in response to one published in a Mexico City newspaper in 1830. Sanabria, contrary to what was stated in the earlier article, defended the idea that mints served the federation. “When the states created their own mint,” he wrote, “the prices of silver increased because the coinage process became easier and numerous abuses disappeared, mining activity was protected, and the ambition of silver speculators was played down. Further along in his article, Sanabria addressed the extraction of capital from the country. He wrote that the nation was affected if the silver were exported in bullion form and not minted: How would the nation be affected, someone would ask, if the bullion is exported even though it has paid the taxes established in the law? I consider many bad things may happen; the process of coining silver needs machines, arms, and many other things such as copper, lead, coal, wood, etcetera. The poorest people residing in the state and the workers of the mint benefit from the marketing of these raw materials. If the mint were to be closed, five hundred families consuming clothing, foodstuffs, and the like everyday would abandon the city which would be a blow to the base of the prosperity of the state.{footnote}Gaceta del Gobierno del Departamento de San Luis Potosí, Núm. 28, 8 July 1838{/footnote} |
1827 | 1842 |
| JS | Juan Nepomuceno Sanabria | 1827 | 1842 |
| PS |
Pomposo Sanabria Pomposa Sanabria was second engraver (grabador segundo) in 1843{footnote}Diario del Gobierno, 24 June 1843{/footnote}. |
1842 | 1843 |
| 1849 | |||
| 1857 | 1861 | ||
| 1867 | 1870 | ||
| AM | José Antonio Mucharraz | 1843 | 1849 |
| MC | Mariaño Catano | 1849 | 1860 |
| RO | Romualdo Obregón | 1859 | 1865 |
| FE | unknown | 1860 | |
| MO | 1863 | ||
| FC | unknown (possibly Francisco Camacho) | 1860 | 1863 |
| CA | Carlos Aguirre Gómez | 1867 | 1870 |
| LR | Luis G. Rojas | 1867 | |
| MH |
Manuel Herrera Razo In November 1879 Herrera Rasso obtained a leave of absence for three months and Blas Escontría substituted{footnote}La Libertad, 9 November 1879{/footnote}. |
1870 | 1885 |
| BE |  Blas Escontría de la Candelaria |
1879 | 1881 |
| MM | 1884 | ||
| LC | Luis Cuevas | 1885 | 1886 |
| MR |
Mariano Reyes Mariano Reyes was appointed assayer of San Luis Potosí in May 1889{footnote}El Siglo Diez y Nueve, Año XLV, Tomo 89, Núm. 14,450, 21 May 1886{/footnote} |
1886 | 1893 |
The assayers on its decimal coinage were:
| Initial | Name | Began on | Left office on |
| P or S | Pomposo Sanabria (engraver only) | 1867 | 1870 |
| G | Carlos Aguirre Gómez | 1867 | 1870 |
| H | Manuel Herrera Razo | 1870 | 1885 |
| E | Blas Escontría | 1879 | 1881 |
| C | Luis Cuevas | 1885 | 1886 |
| B | 1887 | ||
| R | Mariano Reyes | 1886 | 1893 |
| O | Juan R. Ochoa | 1870 | 1873 |
Jorge Santos de la Maza