Estado de México

Amecameca

Amecameca is a small town in the eastern panhandle of the State of Mexico and located approximately 35 miles southeast from Mexico City. At the beginning of the twentieth century it was the home to the brewing industry, several cotton fabric factories, wheat mills, sawmills and small saddlery, pottery and wax workshops. From 1911 the armed movement led in the south by Emiliano Zapata gained followers among the labourers of the area and from 1914 to 1917 Amecameca became an important stronghold of the Ejército Libertador del Sur.

Coin shortages were widespread during the revolution and many states and municipalities under Zapata’s control were prolific in minting coins. Amecameca was no exception and arguably had some of the crudest coinage of the revolution.

Amecameca coinage which is undated, hand-stamped, and incuse in design were authorized by General Trinidad Sánchez Tenorio. Francisco Ponce, a mechanic for the Ferrocarrles de San Rafael & Atlixco, was in charge of making the dies and the blanks. Most, if not all, of the coins were reported to have been minted from metal salvaged from railroad tank cars used in the transport of molasses to a brandy factory owned by the Rojas brothers in the area^{Miguel L. Muñoz, Historia Numismática del Estado de México, Mexico, 1975,}. It is believed that these coins were minted during 1915-1916.

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5c Amecameca

KM-681 Amecameca 10c  

KM-682 Amecameca 20c (Stack’s Bowers Auction, 12 September 2023, lot 73408)

 
KM-683 Amecameca 20c (Stack’s Bowers Auction, 22 October 2020, lot 72387)

KM-683a Amecameca 20c (Stack’s Bowers NYINC Auction, 15 January 2019, lot 43707)

The Amecameca 20 centavos coins were minted in both brass and copper on various size planchets and consists of basically two primary types. Scott Doll has a detailed study here.

KM-685 Amecameca 25c

KM-685a Amecameca 25c (Stack’s Bowers iAuction 3527, lot 21369)

KM-685b Amecameca 25c

KM-686 Amecameca 50c (Stack’s Bowers Auction, 12 September 2023, lot 73407)

KM-686a Amecameca 50c

Tenancingo

At the end of 1915 and in January 1916 General Luciano Solís ordered the minting of copper coins worth 2, 5, 10 and 20 centavos. Given the scarce economic resources, a huge copper water tank was dismantled to mint these coins. Trinidad Gallegos was in charge of making the dies and Anastasio Herrera and Rafael Reynoso were in charge of the coining that took place in the house of a Mr. Herrera (it is not known if it was Anastasio's or another) and probably in other houses.

In early February 1916 General Murguía took control of the Estado de México. In Tenancingo he imprisoned Gallegos and his assistants and declared that whoever had these coins would be considered an enemy of the Government and taken prisoner.

The 2c is known with or without "TM" under the denomination.

KM-688.1 Tenancingo 2c

KM-688.2 Tenancingo 2c

KM-689 Tenancingo 5c

KM-689.1 Tenancingo 5c (Stack’s Bowers Auction, 22 October 2020, lot 7238)

KM-690 Tenancingo 10c

KM-691 Tenancingo 20c (Stack’s Bowers NYINC Auction, 15 January 2019, lot 43707)

KM-691 Tenancingo 20c

Texcoco

There is a peculiar 1 centavo coin copied from coins in circulation, but made of reddish clay. It is believed that it was manufactured somewhere near Texcoco.

Sánchez Garza mentions that a niece of a Constitutionalist General named Gustavo Elizondo^{Gustavo Elizondo was born in Múzquiz, Coahuila, around 1875. He joined the Carrancistas in 1913. Later he supported Alvaro rObregón and seconded the Rebellion of Agua Prieta. He died in !922 in an accident during a hunt.} received as a gift from his uncle some clay coins that he obtained when he worked in Texcoco.

However. Amaya believes that these should be classified as fantasies. Someone, in order to counterfeit the 1 centavo coin, made the molds and performed some tests using mud.

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Texcoco 1c

Toluca

Five centavos cartones

KM-692 Toluca 5c (Stack’s Bowers Auction, 23 October 2019, lot 72617)

 

KM-692.1 Toluca 5c (Stack’s Bowers NYINC Auction, 19 January 2022, lot 7852)

These 5c cardboard 'coins' were produced by Gustavo Baz in March 1915.

20c and 40c coins

One and two centavos coins of 1906 and a few of 1905 from Mexico City were restamped with the value of 20 and 40 centavos respectively. Wood^{Howland Wood, The Mexican Revolutionary Coinage 1913-1916, 1921 (available in the USMexNA online library)} attributed them to Cuernavaca, Morelos; however, Sánchez Garza^{José Sánchez Garza, Historical Notes on Coins of the Mexican Revolution 1913-1917, 1932 (available in the USMexNA online library)} mentions that some people from Toluca told him that they were restamped there for use at fairs before the Mexican Revolution, specifically they were used in 1906 in some charity fairs, while other people mentioned that they saw them until 1915. Gaytán mentions that these coins were probably stamped by some Conventionista faction. Amaya is inclined to believe that these coins served as tokens in fairs before the Mexican Revolution and the in the time of the war, given the shortage of small change, could have been used in circulation.

The restamp consists of the value "20 or 40" inside a "c" and all within a double circle with transverse stripes inside and is always printed on the reverse of the coin.

KM-693.1 Toluca 20c (Stack’s Bowers Baltimore Auction, 2014, lot 11386)

 

KM-694 Toluca 40c (Stack’s Bowers NYINC Auction, 15 January 2019, lot 43710)