Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 12/1/2009

Question
Two mexican silver coins
Coin #1
1.- 1949 casa de moneda de mexico (side one)
   una onza troy=480 gramos de plata pura ley 0.925 peso 33.625 gramos (side two) also a picture of a scale.

Coin # 2 1967 un peso mexican eagle (side one)
(side two) picture of a man with a cloth in his head and military uniform

Please let me know as much as you can about these coins I had them with me many years and never found out much history about them   Thank you  Luisa

Answer
Hi Luisa,
The first coin is a bullion issue, much like the modern 'onza" silver coins, which contain teh same 1 troy ounce of pure silver as your 1949 coin does. This was not something that people used as money, rather for investing in silver. As a result, they are often found in mint condition and are worth $20 to $25 as such.
The second coin is a regular issue peso, which were made from 1957 to 1967. These are made of an alloy that is 10% silver and contain about 1/20th of an ounce of pure silver. The value for a used coin is only a dollar or two, but mint condition examples are worth around $5 to $7.
This coin depicts José María Morelos, an important Mexican historical figure from the 1700-1800's. He had been a Catholic priest who took up the cause of the Mexican Independence movement. He has been depicted on all Mexican 1 peso coins from 1947 until the last date, 1987.
Thank you for the question! =)