Assayers of the Mexico City mint during the Bust coinage (1772-1821)

by Jorge A. Proctor

There is great confusion when it comes to the identity of many of the working assayers of the Mint of Mexico between 1732 and 1821. While some of the names currently being published are correct, others, such as Felipe de Rivas Angulo, Manuel de la Peña, Francisco de Rivera, Manuel de Rivera and Joaquín Dávila Madrid, are not. Furthermore, two of the officials who worked during different periods had similar names. This has caused some scholars to misidentify them as one official who worked during two different periods. These are just a few of the errors that are often encountered today in catalogs, reference books, and other publications. In an attempt to finally bring some clarity to this subject and to provide the most accurate list possible, I offer this revision based on documents, mostly from the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico, and confirmed by the coins themselves (special thanks go to John Pullin, who graciously provided me with images of coins from his collection). The revised assayer list, presented here, is the result of my research.

About the List

Each assayer mark (one or two letters) is paired with the name or names of the assayers who worked the post. Since the tenure of a working assayer would have begun the moment that the previous assayer died or was no longer in office, the initial year cited in the tenure is the year when the official would have started as a working assayer to maintain a steady coin production. This is not necessarily the year when his assayer mark (or the combined assayer marks) first appeared on the coins. For this reason, and to assist numismatists, the year when the new combined assayer marks are first seen on the coins is provided. As for the end of the tenure, I document the year when a change occurred, either when a new assayer is added, when one of the two working assayers is known to have died, or when one of the two working assayers is no longer in office. I also provide information on whether the previous assayer mark continued being used for the remainder of the year when the change occurred. Once the new combined assayer marks are introduced, what can be considered a transitional period is also documented, which covers the year or years when the new and old combined assayer marks are used concurrently, until when the change becomes finalized and the older marks are no longer used.

Initial(s)	Name(s)	Began on	Left office on
FM	Francisco Antonio de la Peña y Flores Manuel de la Iglesia	1769	1777^{The 1772 portrait silver coinage from Mexico (first Mexican dated coinage with the portrait design) carried an inverted mintmark and inverted assayer marks. Additionally, it has also been observed that some of the 1772 8 Reales also have the inverted assayer marks transposed as MF, rather than FM. The error of the inverted mintmark and assayer marks on the silver coinage is also observed on some of the silver coins from 1773.}
FM started being used in 1770.^{AGN: Instituciones Coloniales, Real Hacienda, Casa de Moneda (021), Vol. 133, Exp. 5, fs. 37-43v. (1777) Report of the salary paid to assayer Manuel de la Iglesia until the moment of his death.} Transitional period when FM and FF were used concurrently: 1777-78.^{A 1778 FM 8 Reales in Very Fine + condition was sold by Aureo & Calicó S. L., Sale #263, 29 October 2014, Lot. 469. Another specimen in Fine/Very Fine condition was sold by Martí Hervera & Soler y Llach, Sale #81, 15 May 2014, Lot. 90.}
FF	Francisco Antonio de la Peña y Flores Francisco Arance y Cobos	1777	1783^{Francisco Antonio de la Peña y Flores is promoted to Treasurer of the Mint of Mexico in 1783, and the change of assayer marks from FF to FM starts to be implemented on a some of the silver denominations, for which the 8 Reales and the ½ Real have been confirmed. A 1783 FM 8 Reales, in Almost Very Fine condition was sold by Aureo & Calicó S. L., Sale #263, 29 October 2014, Lot. 478. As for the 1783 FM ½ Real, at least two are known to have been sold by Ponterio & Associates, Inc. The first was sold on Sale #128, 11 November 2003, Lot 473 (today part of the John Pullin collection), and the other on Sale #153, 6 March 2010, Lot 7322. Both coins were in Very Good condition. AGN: Instituciones Coloniales, Real Hacienda, Casa de Moneda (021), Vol. 389, Exp. 9, fs. 153-146. (1783) An order is issued to ensure that, with the promotion of Francisco Antonio de la Peña y Flores to the post of Treasurer, the letter M for Mariano Rodríguez now be added to all the dies for the gold and silver coinage to be prepared for 1784. Gaceta de Madrid, No. 33, Friday 23 April 1784, p. 362. The news of the King’s ratification of the promotion of Francisco Antonio de la Peña y Flores to the post of Treasurer of the Mint of Mexico is published in the local newspaper in Madrid on this date.}
FF started being used in 1777. Transitional period when FF and FM were used concurrently: 1783-88.^{For the combined assayer marks FF, a 1786 2 Reales, 1787 1 Real and 1788 1 Real have been confirmed through the John Pullin collection.}
FM	Francisco Arance y Cobos Mariano Rodríguez y Puerta	1783	1800^{AGN: Instituciones Coloniales, Real Hacienda, Casa de Moneda (021), Vol. 133, Exp. 23, fs. 131-133v. (1800) Report of the salary paid to assayer Mariano Rodríguez until the moment of his death. AGN: Instituciones Coloniales, Real Hacienda, Casa de Moneda (021), Vol. 244, Exp. 14, fs. 228-232. (1800) An order is issued so that, with the death of Mariano Rodíguez y Puerta, the letter T for Tomás Butrón be added to all the dies for the gold and silver coinage to be prepared for 1801 and beyond.} FM started being used in 1783. FM continued through 1800. Transitional period when FM and FT were used concurrently: 1801-03.^{An 1803 FM 4 Reales has been confirmed through the John Pullin collection. This 1803 FM 4 Reales was sold by Superior Galleries, June 2002, Lot 5649.}
FT	Francisco Arance y Cobos Tomás Butrón y Miranda	1800	1803^{AGN: Instituciones Coloniales, Real Hacienda, Casa de Moneda (021), Vol. 50, Exp. 16, fs. 216-236. Document dated 2 August 1803 granting new appointments to the different assayers of the mint of Mexico due to the death of Francisco Arance y Cobos. The King is said to have approved this new appointments on 13 January 1804.}
FT started being used in 1801. Transitional period when FT and TH were used concurrently: 1803 only.
TH	Tomás Butrón y Miranda Henrique Buenaventura Asorín	1803	1809^{AGN (ibid, n. 13). Assayer Tomás Butrón y Miranda is promoted due to the death of assayer Francisco Arance y Cobos.}
TH started being used in 1803. Transitional period when TH and HJ were used concurrently: 1809-1813.^{The existence of 1812 TH 2 Reales and 1813 TH 2 Reales have been confirmed through the John Pullin collection.}
HJ	Henrique Buenaventura Asorín José García Ansaldo^{AGN (op. cit. n. 13). This document helps to clarify the line of succession of the assayers at the Mexico Mint, showing that in 1803, with the death of Francisco Arance y Cobos, Henrique Buenaventura Asorín was promoted as one of the assayers on record, while José García Ansaldo remained as the next in line, followed by José Dávila Madrid.}	1809	1810^{AGN: Instituciones Coloniales, Real Hacienda, Casa de Moneda (021), Vol. 133, Exp. 32, fs. 219-221v. (1810) Report of the salary paid to assayer Henrique Buenaventura Asorín until the moment of his death.}
HJ started being used in 1809. HJ continued through 1810. Transitional period when HJ and JJ were used concurrently: 1811-1815.
JJ	José García Ansaldo José Dávila Madrid	1810	1821^{Ramírez, Santiago. Biografía del Señor D. Manuel Ruiz de Tejada. México, Imprenta del Gobierno Federal en el Ex-Arzobispado, 1889, p. 36. After the temporary appointment provided by the mint’s Superintendent, the Viceroy of New Spain, Félix María Calleja y del Rey, First Count of Calderón, on 30 April 1812, sent the appointment of José García Ansaldo and José Dávila Madrid, as the assayers on record, to Spain for approval. These were approved by Royal decree signed in Cadiz on 22 December 1814. AGN: Instituciones Coloniales, Real Hacienda, Casa de Moneda (021), Vol. 406, Exp. 19, fs. 339-342. In 1815 the addition of the assayer mark J for José Dávila Madrid, due to the death of Henrique Buenaventura, was finally ordered for all the dies.}
JJ started being used in 1811.