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The Mexican Mint
Established in 1535, it is the oldest mint in the Western Hemisphere.
Information provided bythe Mexican Mint Webpage

The Mexican Mint ( "La Casa de Moneda de México" ) ,was the first in America, established by "Cédula Real (Royal Decree)" in 1535, has served the country without interruptions, reaching a quality recognition world wide level.

The institution counts with advanced technology for the manufacturing of: blanks, current mold coins and commemorative medals in fine and industrial metals.

Since its foundation, the Mexican Mint has produced pieces that, in recognition to its quality, went beyond frontiers while it was being used as means of trade in the XVII, XVIII and XIX century, in various parts of the world.

Since then, our presence as legal coin manufacturers, has been active and permanent.

During the last years we have exported coins, medals and blanks to countries such as: Germany, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Spain, United States of America, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, England, Malaysia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Our artistic work, the interpretation of designs, punctuality in our deliveries and our top quality define our goal: the excellence.

The quality by tradition, in each one of the processes in Mexican Mint was reinforced with the international certification of the ISO 9001-1994 Norm of Management and Quality Assurance Standards, granted by the Mexican Institute of Normalization and Certification and by the Quality Management Institute, with headquarters in Canada, implemented in all the productive areas, from the design to the coinage, guaranteeing that our products satisfy the client.

As complement to the ISO-9001 Quality System, the Mexican Mint has established certain Attributes and Quality Standards, to fulfill what was established by the Modernization Program of Public Administration in the 1995-2000 period, through the Ministry of Controllership and Administrative Development. Those Attributes are: " reliable product, prompt in its delivery and with the requested quality, according to the requirements of our Clients" and the Quality Standards are: "No mistakes in the design of the product, timely deliveries of Finished Products on time and on the programmed date, along with the Client and in compliment with the specific requirements of the Client".

HISTORY OF THE MEXICAN MINT

TWO ARE THE CARDINAL SLOPES detached from the rich history of the Mexican Mint: on one hand, its character as an institutional organization in charge of providing the country with its own currency, and conceding it as having mayor fluency to an economic movement whose growth throughout time has not stopped; on the other hand, its renewed artistic contribution, its capacity to transform the mineral entrails of the land into prodigious pieces of gold, silver, copper, and bronze, that constitute an invaluable testimony, not only from a particular history of a nation, but from the development of a civilization.

The relationships of the pre-Hispanic precedents of the currency in the territory that today is the modern Mexico are of a big and vast variety. Gold powder in transparent pen internodes, pieces of polished "jade", chunks of cotton fabric, purple marine shells and, in a special way, the appraised grams of the cacahuatl of the region, constituted the principal means of trade in this part of the pre-Columbian America and the immediate predecessors of our metallic currency.

Dawning the turbulent years of the conquest, the Royal Decree of the 14 of September of 1519, authorized Hernán Cortés to assay, smelt and stamp carved treasured gold in large quantities in the affluent Mexico -Tenochtitlan, using for this purpose, the palace of Axayácatl, father of the tlatoani Moctezuma the Second. It can be said that the first Mint that was established in the regions of the then called New Spain, would provide to the Castilians, with the contest of the qualified and expert silversmiths of Azcapotzalco, a practice that would afterwards allow them to carry out greater and more elaborated smeltings.

Once Cortés was installed in Coyoacán, in 1521, and urged by the Royal Obligations as well as by those of his own people, had promptly asked to institute a new Mint in that place, for which he enabled one of his rooms and, in presence of three officials of the Wreath, proceeded to smelt what according to the documentation gathered by Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana, resulted in more than "one hundred thirty thousand Castilian" - the principal unit of that era - whose fifth part was sent to the king of Spain in character of "Quinto Real".

During the period of the early colony the unbalance between the extracted precious metals from the mines, considerable plenty, and the coined currency, extremely scarce and fractionated in pieces of very high value, represented an uncomfortable hindrance for the accomplishment of the commercial operations in small scale. This determined that the measure adopted to accept all types of transactions, weights in gold or silver, substituted this currency.

The second Mint did not naturally leave coined pieces to the usage of the once issued by the Mint of the Old World, but were made under the form of a printed jewel, using hammer blows that by its rudimentary conception, scarce or none similarity were kept with such coins, since with difficulty we would be able to find two with the same form.

However, this lack of esthetic was not opposing in a way that this jewels would be accepted without conditions at the time of transactions, even though the gold and copper alloys that were carried out from the first smelting came to conspire against the stability of the jewels and of the incipient colonial economy, provoking a curious inflationary phenomenon.

According to some historians, the gold known as "tepuzque" (term with which the Aztecs referred to copper) was withdrawn years after from circulation and accepted by the Spanish Wreath as payment for various taxes, according to other historians this gold was again smelted and resealed not without before having given motive to numerous fraudulent operations.

In 1552, several measures were taken, to improve the Coyoacan’s Mint efficiency, official tasks were appointed consolidating the administration of the Haciendas and the creation of new jobs linked to the specific smelting tasks. The most important of those, was that of supervisor.

Research shows that in 1525 coins in Mexico had been of great significance, the most usual once, were made of tepuzque gold, that as we mentioned before, were composed of a high percentage of copper.

That same year, and with the drawbacks of not having a uniform currency, the visitor Luis Ponce de León arrived to Mexican land, provided with new molds to stamp the gold and the silver, and with the express commission of considering the opportunity to establish a Mint in the country. The 5 of April 1528, Nuño de Guzmán, governor of the province of Pánuco, received an order from president of the town council of Mexico, Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal, which reiterated the recommendation of Sir Juan de Salmerón regarding the convenience of establishing the already indispensable Mint; However, such negotiations did not obtain a desirable result and, meanwhile, the Mint continued operating in the Consistorial Mints, according to a brief that the counter of Mexico, Rodrigo de Albornoz, directed to the king in 1533, which began around the end of 1528 or beginning of the following year, the place and that nowadays belongs to the "Departamento del Distrito Federal".

Finally, with the Royal Arrangement of instituting a viceregal regime in the Mexican territory and with the viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, the authorization for the opening of the so claimed Mint, arrived. A certificate dated May 11 th. 1535, arrived with the Spanish Wreath Queen’s signature at the bottom gave formal beginning to the extended institutional Mint’s life in the country.

Through the five hundred pesos annual payment , sir Antonio de Mendoza, assured the fact that the first Mint of America, counted for its operation with appropriate premises, choosing for such effects the rear part of the "old mints" of Cortés, then confiscated by the diligent from the Indies Council. Geographically, the bright organization was located in what today is the " Monte de Piedad" (Biggest Pawn Shop in Mexico).

Even though there’s no document containing the date in which the first coinage was made in the Mexican Mint, there are, numerous evidences that show that this was accomplished in 1536. Great certainty exists from the fact that the first piece coined was accomplished by hand and that such labor was difficult and not appreciated.

Returning to the suitability of the building, analogous reasons regarding those years when the Town Hall decided in 1562 to move the Mint to a place nearby the boundaries of the Town Hall, until 1569 year in which the king ratified a previous order that had been unattended, in the sense of building adequate facilities for the Mint.

In this occasion, the Wreath obligations were made promptly and the construction initiated in 1570, under the supervision of master Miguel Martínez, the Greatest Constructor of the Royal Mints. The new construction would be found within the perimeter of the current National Palace and in front of the street that still now a days is called "de la Moneda" (Currently headquarters of the Museum of Cultures).

At the time, the labour performed at the Mint was of vital importance to regulate trade and consequently, to contribute in the classification of the colonial economy in Mexico, property that would be growing at the same rate in which the society increased gradually in its complexity.

Pasterns, real means, simple, reals of two, three and four, all of them, silver pieces intended to palliate the lack of currency, mainly in the Mexican capital, constitute the first emanated concrete products were, without exception, of the known type as "macuquino", term that defines the pieces of uncouth coinage, irregular edges and varying thickness. However, not all the metal that was minted was well received by the population of the colony. Such is the case of the copper coins of two and four maravedis, (ancient Mexican coin), ordered in 1542 (on the 28 of June), which value was considered so negligible that, in spite of the official efforts of preventing it, they were systematically thrown to the channels or acalotes (part of a river which is cleared of floating weeds in order to permit the passage of canoes) of the Texcoco lake, which compelled approximately one decade after.

Giving fulfillment to what was ruled by the in 1675 by "Royal Decree" , for the first time in 1679 proceeded with great pomp and circumstance to the coinage of gold coins, also "macuquinas" by its characteristics. A great variety of numismatics pieces of minted and growing perfection, was spread to such distant regions as the countries of the Far East, with this, Mexico supported a considerable mercantile exchange on the Pacific coast.

In the first decade of the XVIII century, a coinage system which reduced the possibility of contingent falsifications was put into practice at the Iberian Peninsula. This system was implanted in Mexico the afternoon of March 29, 1732 before the presence of the then viceroy Juan Coins y Manriquez, from the "Casa fuerte", and of a nourished committee which was integrated by notorious city figures. This new technique allowed the elaboration of careful finished pieces, the so called "columnarias". Undoubtedly found among the most beautiful pieces that had ever been coined in Mexico, named after the stamping of the its reverse, that shows the Hercules’ columns in each side. As meaningful datum, we should point out that, because of its beautiful minting, the "columnarias" were imitated by the coiners of King Cristián VII of Denmark, who issued a certain number of pilasters intended to circulate in Greenland with a similar design.

Returning to the amplifications accomplished in the Mint located at the "Palacio Real", in 1734 superintendent judge José Fernández Veitia, in a letter sent to the Mint general superintendent José Patiño, realized the fact that the construction "to the judgment and feelings of those versed in this art, has remained strong, beautiful and magnificent, such that no monarch will have such jewel in their command ". A telluride movement, in 1741 injured the facilities, Fernández Veitia was accurate to invest one thousand two hundred thirty four pesos in order to proceed its repairs. But already in the first half of the eighteen century, the Mint was erected as one of the most formidable civil works carried out in that century.

In 1752, the superintendent of the sumptuous house, Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio, received a viceregal favorable response to his requested authorization to accomplish a series of amplifications and improvements, hoods where found in the tuning rooms, with the sole object of "exhaling the harmful means of the mixed minerals with the silver, which with the strong heat sicken the workmen and sight keepers". But it was not until 1762 when an appropriate fitting up of the rooms was done.

Though the mentioned enlargements were the most important accomplished in the Mint during the eighteen century, they were not the only once operated in the facilities. Periodical and abundant modifications where made tending to cover different needs, and very accredited artists participated, to the point that the Mexican Mint was highly praised, in the beginning of the XIX century, by most cosmopolitan travelers of the era. Thus, in 1894, Alejandro de Humboldt was defining it as "the largest and richest of the entire world" specifying that in spite of only offering notable things concerning the perfection of the machines or of the chemical origins, this design was of important attention "because of the order, activity and economy that reigned in all the operations of minting" (that is to say, the set of tasks where the coinage took place). In those dates, the Mint was stamping more than thirty million pesos annually, with a working force of four hundred people.

A transcendental historical event in the country, the Independence War, was a determinant factor, so that the currency that was being carried out in the capital would be added to those accomplished in numerous provincial mints, most of which had a non lasting existence.

The roads that were leading into the country where not safe anymore, for the metal and coin shipments that departed from Mexico toward various places more or less distant from that city therefore in numerous populations that were found in such circumstances the opening of private mints was judged convenient. Those provisional mints produced pieces which minting was, as a general rule, more uncouth and laborious that the one made in Mexico, and its facilities were due to the realistic needs, even though the insurgents also proceeded, as far as they were concerned, to issue currency in various sites.

Naturally, such mints had their own "mint", which was stamped and launched into circulation. Among others, Chihuahua, Sombrerete (in the state of Zacatecas), Oaxaca, the ancient potosinian mining center of Real de Catorce and the intendency of this last state known as Mineral de Pinos who made different coins in different volumes.

The currency originated from the provisional currency mints attenuated in its moment the currency shortage, allowing the very punished local economies, not to completely collapse in those years, and created in different metals, pieces that today constitute part of the numismatic patrimony.

In 1824 a contract for the acquisition of new coinage was signed, but the purchase never took place. Four years after, a presidential decree made the population knowledgeable of the state of the metropolitan Mint, and in 1847 proceeded to the leasing of the institution, an unfortunate particular measure for the nation’s interests

In 1848 new machinery was installed and the Mint was moved to the ancient building of the Apartado, located in the street that still today keeps that name.

It is interesting to observe the importance of other province’ Mints , nevertheless the precariousness of its resources. In this regard, one of the clauses of the first lease contract of the Mexican Mint, expressly foreboded the establishment of any new Mint in a radio of 150 leagues (630 kilometers) of the capital, with the finality that the importance of this would not suffer damages caused by the competitors.

It is important to note, that such province mints were not the same provisional cited previously, although several of them were located in the same centers of population.

During the leasing period, in addition to the city of Mexico, and among others the mints of Alamos (state of Sonora), Culiacán (Sinaloa), Durango , Guadalajara, Guadalupe and Clavo (Chihuahua), Guanajuato, Hermosillo , San Luis Potosí, were issuing currency in different time spaces, they all closed their doors between the last years of the XIX century and 1905.

Finally, the first of March 1893, the rescission of the outstanding contract was disputed, and with this, the country once again recovered one of its estate vital resources, since that date it remained in hands of the Federal Government.

The decrease of the silver’s price in the international market severely impinged on the Mexican economy, taking under consideration that the fact that such mineral constituted, around 1900, the principal exportation item of the country. The estates’ measures taken in 1905, established by the Mexican Monetary Regime were stabilizing currency elements until the era of the revolution. The design of the minted pieces, were changed, substituting the legend " Republica Mexicana" by that of "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" - with the exception of the silver coins of one peso, that continued to be coined with the first legend until 1909.

In 1910 the first commemorative coin was issued, made by the Mexican Mint, on the occasion of the centennial of the "Grito de Dolores", the design had been made by the French artist Charles Pillet.

Also the revolutionary armies proceeded to launch their own coin in various parts of the country. This, as well as the constitutionalists, was characterized by its minting and by the dissimilarity of its component materials. In certain cases, the coinage was not mostly differentiated from the tlacos (ancient Mexican coin) of profuse circulation from the XVI to the XIX centuries, that sometimes were expressed as the local or regional coins. However, the capital, is own stamped out Mint minted pieces - during the short occupation of Mexico by the Liberating Army of the South commanded by Emiliano Zapata, in 1915.

Once the second decade of the XIX century had been surpassed, and from there on, labors of the Mint were multiplied, increasing at a pace never expected before, the quantity and the quality of its emissions and varying the same in function of the changing needs of the nation. Thus, for example, the adoption in the entire world of a fiduciary coin as circulating of common use, determined a modification of the coinages in Mexico, being bronze, brass and cupronickel pieces issued by different fractional values, without this being the purpose to cease the minting of precious metals. The magnificence of the emanated production of the Mint. Considering that while many of the most developed countries of Europe were suffering an overwhelming currency flood without any value, in our country the gold and silver pieces were freely circulating.

The technology advances in coinage matter, the needs of counting with adequate space and the requirements of a growing modernization, motivated in 1970, that the Mint would additionally occupy new facilities located in the Calzada de Legaria.

Following the Federal Government’s policy of industrial decentralization, the easy and rapid access of the prime matters and efficiency in the coin distribution, in 1983 the new Mint in San Luis Potosí began working, which demolished the production costs of a growing national currency demand and give entry to a most aggressive penetration policy for coinage in other countries, in the international area.

Sources: Angel Fernández "Unidad de Bienes Culturales"
Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público

"La Casa de Moneda de México a más de 450 años"
Publisher Bookseller: Miguel Ángel Porrúa
1989