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La Casa de Moneda de México (the Mexican Mint) was established in 1535 and is the oldest mint in the Americas. Apart from manufacturing all the circulation coinage for Mexico, the mint also strikes coins in the internationally popular one troy ounce (1oz) of silver format.
Some of these are not legal tender and are issued as a "store of value" based on the intrinsic value of the precious metal they are made of; they are sometimes called "medallic coinage". The first of these were made in 1949.
The coins weigh 33.625, which at 92.5% ("sterling silver") purity means their pure silver content is 31.103, or exactly one troy ounce silver weight (ASW 1.000).
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| Mint | Mexican Mint |
Mint Mark | Mo |
Total Mintage |
1,000,000 (1.0 million)
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| Obverse | |
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The obverse of the coin shows at its centre a screw press with two flyweights, as used for coin minting before modern presses were introduced. Above it, the Mo mint mark of the Mexican Mint (large letter M above which a small o).
Around above, the name of the mint: CASA DE MONEDA DE MEXICO (the Mexican Mint).
Around below left, the date of issue 1949.
The border is toothed, with staggered sizes of the teeth. |
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| Reverse | |
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The obverse of the coin shows at its centre a pair of scales as historically used to measure weight.
Around the rim, the inscription UNA ONZA TROY = 480 GRANOS DE PLATA PURA * (one troy ounce equal to 480 grains of pure silver; a grain was an old measure of weight equal to 0.065 gram).
Above left, PESO 33.625 GRAMOS (weight of 33.625 grams; "peso" in this context is "weight" and not the currency name). Below the scales, LEY .925 (purity 92.5%).
The border is toothed, with staggered sizes of the teeth. |
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| Reverse Inscription |
UNA ONZA TROY = 480 GRANOS DE PLATA PURA * PESO 33.625 GRAMOS LEY .925 |
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| Edge | Milled | Edge Inscription | None |
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| Notes | After 1949, the coins were intermittently struck with the same "frozen" date of 1949 on them, until the inscription and the inscribed date changed in 1978. |
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