NGC Registry Featured Set: Mexico, Oaxaca Mexican Revolution 1915-1916

Coinage of Mexico is one of the most popular categories in World Coins in the NGC competitive Registry. SD_MexCoins is one of the top competitors with more than 40 top-ranked sets, the vast majority of which are 100% or nearly complete. We will examine one of SD_MexCoin’s in-progress sets — the revolutionary coinage of Oaxaca 1915-1916. This large, challenging set contains many varieties and while only 60% complete, it’s an impressive accomplishment with many Top Pop examples.

SD_MexCoins began collecting coins of the Mexican Revolution in the mid 1990s. The Oaxaca series is notable for the numerous busts of Benito Juarez (1806-1872), the popular 26th president of Mexico and the country’s first indigenous president. Telling the 10 busts apart is a dizzying exercise, but SD_MexCoin’s photos and comments make it easier. SD_MexCoins has become an expert on these coins, writing a detailed article in the September 2022 issue of the journal of the US Mexican Numismatic Association.

This specialized area of coinage does have several catalogs, but new varieties are regularly discovered, which is part of what makes the series exciting to SD_MexCoins. The coins themselves can be extremely challenging to find, but SD_MexCoins has built a network to learn about and obtain the coins. These efforts resulted in a recent acquisition of the gold 5 and 10 pesos, in MS 66 and MS 66+, respectively.

Mexico Revolutionary 1915 Gold 5 Pesos, NGC MS 66 Click images to enlarge

Mexico Revolutionary 1915 Gold 10 Pesos, NGC MS 66+ Click images to enlarge

“These found their way into my collection after a friend who doesn’t even collect this series got me connected to another friend of his who he heard had these two coins available. Once I contacted him, a deal was made, and they now have a place in my collection and hopefully will be there for quite some time,” SD_MexCoins writes. “You can certainly find nice coins off the big auction sites, but most of the ones in my collection have come off places like eBay, coin shows, as well as through friends and other connections.”

SD_MexCoins enjoys sharing his knowledge and learning about the coins. Getting to know fellow collectors and dealers at conventions like the annual US Mexican Numismatic Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona is crucial, SD_MexCoins says, as a lot of information is simply in people’s memory banks, not yet published in any journal or website or awaiting a second edition of a catalog.

“Some key things that I have tried to do over the years is to not be afraid to ask people for information. Knowledge is power as they say and that includes talking with dealers and collectors alike,” SD_MexCoins wrote. “So much can be learned and one thing I have found, people like to share information especially if it’s something they know about. Besides, what can be more fun than talking about our coins!”

The NGC Registry is a free online platform where collectors register and display their certified coins and can compete against other collectors around the world for recognition and prizes. The NGC Registry continues to be the world’s most comprehensive online coin collecting platform thanks to you, our valued collectors. This popular resource now boasts nearly 31,000 users, 293,000+ registered sets and nearly 1.6 million registered coins. In January of 2023, we awarded more than $35,000 in prizes — the highest prize value awarded yet! Get ready for the 2023 awards.

Would you like your set to be featured in a future article? 100% completion in a set is not always feasible. Perhaps, we will choose someone whose set has a personal story behind it or some interesting historical facts. We are looking for those sets where someone has taken the time to make the set unique and a reflection of his/her personal collecting style. It may be your set! Stay tuned.

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