Mexican gold coin: Ounce or Libertad

We will now deal with one of the highest sold investment coins in the world, manufactured on Mexican territory. It is called the Ounce or Libertad.
Its origin dates back to 1981, and coming to enrich the gold investment market where hitherto only the Krugerrand had existed since 1960 with the Maple Leaf in 1979. At the beginning, this Mexican gold coin was called `Once’ but a few years later, its name was changed to that of `Libertad’.
It is a coin used as legal tender in Mexico (the silver coin is not considered legal tender, only that made out of gold), classified Type I and as opposed to other gold coins, this one does not have any face value. Thus, its value has to be measured in weight. If we want to calculate its face value, we can obtain it by converting its weight according to the current rate of exchange for gold’.

Origins

In the Seventies, while we were going through a serious oil crisis, it was necessary to develop new products which were going to make it possible to get out of the crisis. It was then that the Bank of Mexico, under the leadership of Gustavo Romero Kolbeck, entrusted the project to the Museum of Currency to manufacture a gold coin with the weight of one ounce, and who would be historically-speaking linked to the famous coin of `50 pesos Centenario’ (about which we wrote in another article), and which represented the centenary of Mexican Independence.

Features

Its weight is of 34.55gr, 900 thousandth of gold (of those struck between 1981 and 1991), with a diameter of 34.50 mm, 2.50mm in thickness, that is to say a total weight of 31.03gr. of gold with the remainder in pure silver.
At the time of the first run between the years 1981 and 1991, the coin was struck in 3 distinct weights, namely: 1 ounce, ½ ounce and ¼ of an ounce.
Between 1989 and 1991, the run of the Libertad was stopped then restarted in 1991 by supplementing the range with two new weights: 1/10th of an ounce and 1/20th of an ounce. Which meant that the coin was offered in 5 different weights.
In 1991, the purity of gold was also reviewed for this coin since it moved to 99.9 (0.999) – as well as the weight of an Ounce to 31.10gr.
These changes were from now on classified under Type II.

1 Ounce

1/2 Ounce

1/4 Ounce

1/10 Ounce

1/20 Ounce

Obverse and Reverse

The obverse of these coins bears the coat of arms of Mexico while the reverse `the Alada Victory’ – the same as on the coins of 50 pesos Centenario. In its right hand, it bears a laurel wreath which represents victory and in the left hand a broken chain which represents freedom – in the background, the Popocatepelt and Iztaccihualt volcanos, the first considered as a divinity during pre-Hispanic times and venerated by the Aztecs.

Overlooking the volcanoes and inserted next to the Alada Victory is written `1 Ounce of Pure Gold’ (on the left side), the year 1981 (on the right-side) and below: Mexico City (this was for the coin of the year 1981).

On the coin of 1994, appears `1 Ounce’ on the left side, `Pure Gold” on the right-side, and, on the edges of the lower part, we see the year, Mexico City and the law.

The Eagle takes up the middle part of the obverse, left profile outlined, with raised wings, in position of combat, inserted on a prickly pear cactus (national symbol of Mexico), holding a snake in its beak. Across the whole coin is written Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United States of Mexico).

In 1996, the appearance of this coin underwent a few changes. The Bank of Mexico decided to apply these changes in order to make this coin more attractive to the public. In this way, the obverse now bears in addition to the central eagle of the Mendocino Codex, the letters of 10 escudos all around as well as various types of eagles belonging to the succession of governments of the Mexican State, including the First Empire of Iturbide, Porfirio Díaz, the Aztec Eagle, etc…

On the reverse, the Alada Victoiry, today regarded in a very different way, highlights the column which supports it.
The layout of the letters also changes and these can now be seen on the top part, on the edge. The order of the inset appears thus – first: 1 ounce of Pure Gold, then the year of striking and the law.

Through its beauty, its purity, its quality and its fame over so many years, this coin is a coin of excellence, a reference for investment purposes at global level

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Mexican gold coin: Ounce or Libertad was first posted on February 14, 2012 at 12:29 pm.
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