Decimal issues of the Mexico City mint (silver one peso)
In 1869 the Balance Scale design was introduced. The obverse had the national coat of arms whilst the reverse design was the Balance Scale, and its three motifs – a sword, a two-pan scale, and a scroll with the word LEY – represented the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the Mexican government.
Although the public accepted the Balance Scale decimal coinage, the Balance Scale peso never took hold as a trade dollar. In 1873 the familiar and popular Liberty Cap and Rays 8 reales was restored for that purpose.
KM-408.5 $1 1869 Mo C (Ponterio Baltimore auction, 28 March 2011, lot 9250)
Diameter 37 mm. 23.073 g. 0.9027 silver
| Date | Asssayer | Recorded Mintage |
Comment |
| 1869 | C | ||
| 1869 | C | large LEY in scroll; pattern | |
| 1870 | C | 5,115,000 | |
| 1870 | M/C | ||
| 1870/69 | C | ||
| 1870 | M | ||
| 1871 | M | 6,974,000 | |
| 1871/0 | M | ||
| 1872/1 | M | 4,801,000 | |
| 1872 | M | ||
| 1873 | M | 1,765,000 |
In 1898 a new denomination, the Liberty Cap peso, was minted, but it was not readily accepted – the peso denomination was unfamiliar, the coin was slightly (2 mm) smaller than its predecessor, the Liberty Cap and Rays 8 reales, and the fineness was given as 902,7 rather than the familiar 10 Ds 20 Gs.
KM-409.2 $1 1898 Mo AM (Stack’s Bowers auction, 27 August 2012, lot 60499)
Diameter 39 mm.23.073 g. 0.9027 silver
| Date | Asssayer | Recorded Mintage |
Comment |
| 1898 | AM | 10,156,000 | original strike (139 beads). On the originals the 1 in the date has a straight serif and tapers to a short base. |
| 1898 | AM | 10,250,000 | 1949 restrike (134 beads). In 1949 a reported 10,250,000 coins dated 1898 were produced for use in the Republic of China. The Mexican mint struck 8,250,000 and the San Francisco mint struck 2,000,000. On these restrikes. the 1 has a curved serif and sits on a long thin base. (Illustrated below) |
| 1899 | AM | 7,930,000 | |
| 1900 | AM | 8,226,000 | |
| 1901 | AM | 14,505,000 | |
| 1902/1 | AM | 16,224,000 | |
| 1902 | AM | ||
| 1903 | AM | 22,396,000 | |
| 1903 | MA | error: transposed assayer initials (Illustrated below) | |
| 1904 | AM | 14,835,000 | |
| 1905 | AM | 3,557,000 | |
| 1908 | AM | 7,575,000 | |
| 1908 | GV | ||
| 1909 | GV | 2,924,000 |
KM-409.2 $1 1898 Mo AM restrike (Stack’s Bowers NYINC auction, 19 January 2022, lot 7835)
KM-409.2 $1 1903 Mo MA (Stack’s Bowers auction, 17 August 2024, lot 44201)