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Mexico War of Independence “1812” dated Cast Insurgent 8 Reales with the casting marks of Supreme Junta and “ZMY,” PCGS VF35. Courtesy of PCGS. Click image to enlarge.

During the last week of October 2022 was held a coin show that I have tried to attend every year since I was first advised about it. Held in a hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, the show put on each year by the U.S. Mexican Numismatic Association offers a wonderful opportunity for collectors, researchers, dealers, and lovers of numismatics to meet up. Focused on the coinage of Latin America, the small convention offers a once-a-year opportunity for a pilgrimage for many numismatists. A major highlight of the convention is the lecture series, offering expert speakers on a wide range of relevant topics. Unlike other coin shows, the browsing often shuts down as dealers shut down their tables and collectors move next door to watch and participate in the lectures. This year, one such lecture changed the attribution on some Mexican coinage.

The lecture, titled “Insurgent Cast Coinage of the War of Independence; Supreme Junta, Morelos & Lva” by Max A. Keech was a well-researched and in-depth piece with the focus on correcting the misattribution on documenting some of these coins. Keech, an avid collector and researcher of these coins and the War for Mexican Independence, explained that the attribution which has been printed in many numismatic catalogs and reference guides has been calling the casting marked coinage of the arms of the Supreme Junta as “Chilpancingo.”

Keech explained that the coins couldn’t be from the Congress of Chilpancingo because that didn’t occur until September of 1813. The coinage featuring this casting mark began in 1809, when an insurgent group known as the Supreme Junta started using this casting mark to produce coins with captured bars of silver from their raids and conquests. The different insurgent groups would produce this cast coinage for use and troop payments and mark these coins as their authorizing mark. These different insurgent groups would often work together in the coinage production because often these coins can have up to three marks applied at the time of manufacturing. The casting marks of the Supreme Junta and Morelos being the two most common of the six possibilities.

From this lecture and with the advice of Max Keech, PCGS has updated the attributions moving forward on these coins and changed the incorrect attribution of Chilpancingo to that of the Supreme Junta. It is our goal to be accurate both numismatically and historically and with well documented research attributions can change and we will strive to accommodate such efforts.