Libertads

by Felix Kirzhner

The Libertad coins are silver and gold bullion coins minted by the Mexican Mint. Libertads are devoid of face value, yet are legal tender, still accepted as currency and guaranteed by Banco de México based on the market value of its gold or silver content.

In addition to the bullion version, a proof and reverse proof versions for both metals are manufactured specifically for collectors. Proof coins contain a frosted angel with a polished background. A reverse proof is the opposite and has a polished angel with a frosted background. An antique finish silver Libertad coin was first released in 2018 with a limited mintage of 40,000.

1981 1oz gold Libertad (Stack’s Bowers auction, 27 January 2022, lot 60174)

2015 1oz gold Libertad (Stack’s Bowers auction, 26 May 2021, lot 60360)

The reverse design used was based on the 1921 gold Centenario, a coin issued to mark the centennial of Mexican independence. The winged Victoria of Angel of Independence is in front with the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl in the background. The older Libertad coins show a front-facing view of the angel. The new Libertad series shows a three-quarter side profile of the angel. The gold used the older angel from 1981 through to 1999. The silver used the older angel from 1982 through to 1995.

The obverse shows the Mexican coat of arms. In 2000, the obverse was changed to depict the current Mexican national coat of arms along with ten past versions of this symbol surrounding it.

Gold coins have not changed sizes since first minted. From 1982 through to 1995, the ¼, ½, and one ounce silver coins had slightly smaller diameters and greater thicknesses than current minted coins. From 1981 through to 1990, the gold coins contained 90% gold (.90 fineness). The gold coins since 1991 and all silver coins have contained 99.9% silver or gold (.999 fineness).

In 1989, 3,500 ¼ ounce Libertad platinum coins were produced.

Mintages

Gold Uncirculated Coins

Year	¹/₂₀ oz	⅒ oz	¼ oz	½ oz	1 oz
1981			313,000	193,000	596,000
1991	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	109,193
1992	63,858	50,592	27,321	24,343	46,281
1993	10,000	10,000	2,500	2,500	73,881
1994	10,000	10,000	2,500	2,500	1,000
2000	5,300	3,500	2,500	1,500	2,370
2001
2002	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000	15,000
2003	800	300	300	300	500
2004	4,000	2,000	1,500	500	3,000
2005	3,200	500	500	500	3,000
2006	3,000	4,000	1,500	500	4,000
2007	1,200	1,200	500	500	2,500
2008	800	2,500	800	300	800
2009	2,000	9,000	3,000	3,000	6,200
2010	1,500	4,500	1,500	1,500	4,000
2011	2,500	6,500	1,500	1,500	3,000
2012					3,000
2013	650	2,150	750	500	2,350
2014	1,050	2,450	1,000	1,000	4,050
2015	1,300	4,100	1,300	1,100	4,800
2016	2,900	3,800	1,000	1,200	4,100
2017	1,000	300	500	700	900
2018	2,500	1,500	1,250	1,250	2,050
2019	1,500	1,250	1,500	1,500	2,000
2020	700	700	700	700	1,100
2021	1,000	850	500	500	1,050
2022	1,100	1,400	1,300	1,000	1,900
2023	2,000	1,750	1,000	1,000	1,500

Gold Proof/Reverse Proof Mintages

Year	¹/₂₀ oz	⅒ oz	¼ oz	½ oz	1 oz
1989				704
2004			1,000
2005	400	400	2,600	400	250
2006	520	520	2,120	520	520
2007	500	500	1,500	500	500
2008	500	500	800	500	500
2009	600	600	1,700	600	600
2010	600	600	1,000	600	600
2011	1,100	1,100	2,000	1,100	1,100
2012
2013	300	300	600	300	400
2014	250	250	250	250	250
2015	500	500	500	500	500
2016	2,100	2,100	2,100	2,100	2,100
2017	600	1,500	1,500	700	600
2018	1,000	1,500	1,000	1,000 (p)	1,000 (p)
2018				1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)
2019	1,000	1,000	800	650 (p)	750 (p)
2019				500 (rp)	500 (rp)
2020	250	250	250	250 (p)	250 (p)
2020				250 (rp)	250 (rp)
2021	350	450	450	450 (p)	500 (p)
2021				500 (rp)	500 (rp)
2022	1,200	1,100	1,400	1,000 (p)	1,300 (p)
2022				500 (rp)	500 (rp)
2023	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000 (p)	1,000 (p)
2023				1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)

p = proof, rp = reverse proof

Silver BU Mintages (includes BU and Antiqued Finish)

Year	¹/₂₀ oz	⅒ oz	¼ oz	½ oz	1 oz	2 oz	5 oz	1 kg
1982					1,049,680
1983					1,001,768
1984					1,014,000
1985					2,017,000
1986					1,699,426
1987					500,000
1988					1,500,500
1989					1,396,500
1990					1,200,002
1991 (Type 1)					1,600,518
1991 (Type 2)	54,217	50,017	46,017	50,618	Approximately 50K
1992	295,783	299,983	104,000	97,800	2,458,000
1993	100,000	100,000	90,500	90,500	1,000,000
1994	90,100	90,100	90,100	90,100	400,000
1995	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	500,000
1996	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	300,000	50,000	20,000
1997	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	100,000	15,000	10,000
1998	6,400	6,400	6,400	6,400	67,000	7,000	3,500
1999	8,001	8,000	7,000	7,000	95,000	5,000	2,800
2000	57,500	27,500	21,000	20,000	340,000	7,500	4,000
2001	25,000	25,000	25,000	20,000	725,000	6,700	4,000
2002	45,000	35,000	35,000	35,000	850,000	8,700	5,200
2003	50,000	20,000	22,000	28,000	805,000	9,500	6,000
2004	30,000	15,000	15,000	20,000	450,000	8,000	3,923
2005	15,000	9,277	15,000	10,000	698,281	3,549	2,401
2006	20,000	15,000	15,000	15,000	300,000	5,800	3,000
2007	3,500	3,500	3,500	3,500	200,000	8,000	3,000
2008	7,000	10,000	9,000	9,000	950,000	17,000	9,000	2,003
2009	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	1,650,000	46,000	21,000	4,000
2010	12,000	12,000	15,500	20,000	1,000,000	14,000	9,500	4,000
2011	15,000	15,000	15,000	30,000	1,200,000	14,000	10,000	6,000
2012		3,300	16,700	17,000	746,400	18,600	9,500	2,300
2013	13,500	18,900	9,600	24,500	774,100	17,400	10,400
2014	5,700	6,350	6,950	23,000	429,200	9,000	6,400
2015	18,400	19,900	17,900	16,000	901,500	20,100	9,500	2,000
2016	22,900	24,400	17,700	30,900	1,437,500	17,600	11,400	2,000
2017	8,550	8,850	8,100	9,050	636,000	8,900	5,050	200
2018	17,900	20,300	18,000	15,500	300,000	20,400	16,600	500
2018					40,000(af)	2,000(af)	2,000(af)
2019	7,350	7,200	5,450	8,500	402,000	18,300	18,000	200
2019					1,000(af)	1,000(af)	1,000(af)
2020	5,450	6,100	4,450	7,600	300,000	5,500	8,900	500
2021	3,600	3,900	3,250	4,500	450,000	6,500	6,050	500
2022	4,500	4,850	4,150	5,555	550,000	6,250	7,000	200
2023	38,800	47,800	30,000	25,500	613,000	30,000	25,000	500

af = antiqued finish

Silver Proof Mintages (includes proof and reverse proof)

Year	¹/₂₀ oz	⅒ oz	¼ oz	½ oz	1 oz	2 oz	5 oz	1 kg
1983					998
1986					30,006
1987					12,000
1988					10,000
1989					10,000
1990					10,000
1991					10,000
1992	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000	10,000
1993	5,002	5,002	5,002	5,002	5,002
1994	5,002	5,002	5,002	5,002	5,002
1995	2,000	2,000	2,000	2,000	2,000
1996	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	2,000	1,200	1,200
1997	800	800	800	800	1,500	1,300	1,300
1998	300	300	300	2,500	500	400	400
1999	600	600	600	600	600	280	100
2000	900	1,000	700	700	1,600	500	500
2001	1,500	1,500	1,000	1,000	2,000	500	600
2002	2,800	2,800	2,800	2,800	3,800	1,000	1,000	1,820
2003	4,400	4,900	3,900	3,400	5,400	800	1,500	1,514
2004	2,700	2,500	2,500	2,500	3,000	1,000	800	1,501
2005	2,600	3,000	2,400	2,800	3,300	600	1,000	500
2006	3,300	3,000	2,900	2,900	4,000	1,100	700	874
2007	4,000	4,000	3,000	1,500	5,800	500	500	700
2008	3,300	5,000	2,900	2,500	11,000	1,000	900	1,700
2009	5,000	5,000	3,000	3,000	10,000	6,200	5,000	1,700
2010	10,000	10,000	5,000	5,000	10,000	1,300	2,000	1,500
2011	10,000	10,000	5,000	5,000	10,000	1,000	2,000	1,000
2012					4,200			500
2013	4,200	4,100	3,200	3,000	9,100	1,300	1,600	400
2014	1,850	1,950	1,700	1,750	4,700	750	800	500
2015	5,500	5,300	2,400	2,500	6,400 (p)	1,300	1,600	800
2015					1,500 (rp)
2016	12,550	12,650	9,550	13,150	13,250 (p)	3,950	2,750	800
2016					1,700 (rp)
2017	9,050	7,850	4,850	12,750	8,650 (p)	3,050 (p)	2,350 (p)	500
2017					1,050 (rp)	2,000 (rp)	2,000 (rp)	1,000(ehrpl)
2018	7,900	6,500	5,000	7,000	10,000 (p)	5,000 (p)	5,000 (p)	1,000
2018					1,500 (rp)	2,100 (rp)	2,100 (rp)
2019	3,000	3,600	2,850	2,000	5,500 (p)	2,750 (p)	2,500 (p)	500
2019					1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)
2020	2,800	3,450	2,700	2,000	5,850 (p)	2,800 (p)	2,950 (p)	250
2020					1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)
2021	2,250	2,300	1,500	1,700	3,450 (p)	1,250 (p)	1,250 (p)	250
2021					1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)
2022	2,750	2,650	1,400	1,250	3,400 (p)	1,700 (p)	1,700 (p)	200
2022					1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp)	1,000 (rp
2023	8,000	8,000	10,000	5,000	16,850 (p)	3,800 (p)	3,500 (p)	500
2023					1,500 (rp)	1,500 (rp)	1,500 (rp)

p = proof, rp = reverse proof, ehrpl =