Pre-Columbian Series - Silver 1 Oz. - Summary
In this final installment, I am providing a complete graphical representation of the Pre-Columbian 1 oz Silver Coin Series. The corresponding mintage tables for each collection: Aztec, Central Veracruz, Mayan, Olmec, Teotihuacán, and Toltec have been presented throughout this and all prior articles in the series.
For the Brilliant Uncirculated (MS) graph, three coins with exceptionally high mintages were treated as statistical outliers and separated from their respective collections. Without this adjustment, their scale would have visually compressed all other issues, distorting the comparison. In contrast, the Proof coins fall within a consistent mintage range, so all were displayed together within their cultural groups.
I hope that these visualizations will allow collectors to quickly and intuitively gauge the relative scarcity of each coin within its respective cultural group. By pairing the numerical data with these charts, the full series can now be appreciated both analytically and visually, revealing patterns in original issues, restrikes, and surviving populations that might otherwise be lost in the tables alone.
As I bring this series of articles on the Pre-Columbian 1 oz Silver Coin Collections to a close, I want to leave with a simple but important message. We have a responsibility to champion and preserve these coins, their stories, and their history.
It’s disheartening how often I hear about collectors who pass away, only for their life’s work to be dispersed, auctioned off, stripped of its narrative, and reduced to transactions. Just recently, a respected figure in the Mexican numismatic community passed, and almost immediately his coins began appearing at auction. It’s a reminder that without context, without meaning, even the most extraordinary collections risk becoming anonymous metal once again.
What we hold in our hands are not just coins, they are cultural touchstones, fragments of civilizations and artistry that connect us to a shared human past. My hope is that by documenting and discussing this series and by publishing the data, the context, and the artistry, we can inspire others to look beyond flipping, speculation, and short-term gain, and instead focus on preservation, provenance, and storytelling.
If even a few readers feel compelled to not only collect but to curate, to teach, and to pass along these histories, then this entire effort will have been worthwhile.
In a fitting turn of timing, recent news from CDMX Secreta (14 March 2025) announced that Mexico’s Senate has approved the minting of several new coin collections for 2026, including a so-called Pre-Hispanic Collection. Composed of twenty silver coins, this new series will feature designs drawn from Mexico’s most ancient civilizations with the Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec among them, cultures already represented throughout the Pre-Columbian series documented in these articles. Though not officially named as a continuation, the forthcoming collection’s theme clearly echoes the same artistic and historical lineage, suggesting that the Banco de México is poised to reengage with the heritage that inspired one of its most culturally ambitious coin programs.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Felix Kirzhner, whose early guidance and enthusiasm for Mexican numismatics first drew me into this remarkable field. If not for his influence, this entire series of articles would never have taken shape. I am also grateful to Scott Doll, whose encouragement gave me the confidence to begin and continue writing this series. His insights into best practices for USMexNA research and his thoughtful editorial feedback were invaluable in shaping and refining these works. I also thank him for generously sharing several of the coin images featured here.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge Doug Plasencia of the Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) for his technical expertise and work on the NGC PhotoVision high-resolution coin images included in these articles.