Estado de Oaxaca Dos Pesos: additions to the catalogue
Addition one
While it may appear to most collectors that this series have been “over catalogued”, since we even have a specialized book dealing with it, La Ventana by Woodworth and FloresC. ‘Woody’ Woodworth and Joe Flores, La Ventana. Oaxaca Edition. Privately Printed 1988, available in the USMexNA online library , as well as a very recent approach to list all the known dies and their combinationsCarlos Abel Amaya Guerra, Compendio Tricolor de la Moneda de la Revolución Mexicana. Volumen III. Privately printed. Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, 2015), it is always exciting to learn about new varieties that have remained undetected or at least unreported. Such is the case of the Oaxaca “Dos Pesos” 1915 coin reported herein.
The coin in question was part of a very old collection that I recently acquired and, while checking new purchases against my own collection for upgrades, I noticed that the reverse (balance scale side) is unlisted in all major references dealing with the series. This triggered an inquiry with a group of friends and numismatists and I was pleased to learn of three more examples of this new variety; thus, there is a good chance that this coin is to be found with some effort since it may not be particularly rare.
On this new specimen, the obverse die is well known in major catalogs; it was assigned die number “H” by Verne R. WalrafenVerne R. Walrafen, The Mexican Revolution Reporter, Issue Number Twelve, February 1979, The Revolutionary Mexican Historical Society and is listed as Obverse 45 in Amaya’s compendium. The key difference is a totally new reverse die that is easily identifiable by looking at the right balance scale plate which is situated very close to, but higher than the “L” on the legend. Also the “PE” of Pesos is dramatically tilted to the left in contrast to the rest of the legend. Several other minor differences will be found such as the location of the “D” in reference to the balance scale plate as well as what appears to be double hubbing on “PROVISIONAL”. This specimen weighs 14.4 grams, has a diameter of 33 mm, and a corded edge.
(based on Angel Smith Herrera , The Oaxaca 1915 Dos Pesos Series, A New Addition. USMexNA journal, September 2015)
Addition two
I have been aware for a number of years that two of the Oaxaca Dos Pesos coins in my collection were probably undescribed and not listed in La Ventana. Recently I was informed that one of them had been described by Angel Herrera in the Sept 2015 issue of the USMexNA journal. This encouraged me to see if the other coin was also undescribed. Pictures were sent to Angel and he agrees that this is the case, so I am now presenting this coin. It has the reverse of LV 106 and LV 107 but an undescribed obverse. This obverse is pictured along with the reverse and a blowup of the signature S in PESOS.
The reverse has the signature S in PESOS and also has the same striations between the scroll and the right half of the scale as LV 106 and LV 107. The obverse has a complete O in ESTADO so this coin is not LV 106. The obverse also does not have the comma after OAXACA or the period after the date (1915), so this is also not LV 107. This die combination is not listed in La VentanaC “Woody” Woodworth and Joe Flores, op. cit..
(based on Terence Stoddard, A new Die Combination of an Estado de Oaxaca Dos Pesos, USMexNA journal, December 2022)