An Unlisted Guerrero Coin

by Terence Stoddard

This unlisted Guerrero coin is a coin that my records show I bought from Harvey Bruns on 15 December 1969. I have long known it was unlisted but only recently discovered the connection with the state of Morelos. On the obverse, the left cactus branch and two leaves form a distinctive equilateral triangle. Recently while surfing the internet for revolutionary coins for sale, I noticed that triangle on a coin offered and thought “finally a second example”. But upon viewing the reverse, I saw that it was a Morelos 1916 10 centavos (GB 276).

GB-276 10c 1916 Morelos

Both Morelos and Guerrero are small adjoining states but this was a very surprising and exciting discovery. In many ways it is similar to the relationship of the extremely rare Suriana two peso (GB 223 & 224) and the extremely rare Campo Morado two peso (GB 177) except that both of those coins show the date 1915.

If you look at the similarity of both 10 centavos coins, it seems reasonable to believe that the same engraver created all the dies. This the same area (Campo Morado) where several “Guerrero” one peso obverse dies were defaced (although not totally removing the “UN PESO”) and combined with C.M.GRO reverses. All the large eagle examples seem to have these defaced peso obverses.

I guess my question is: were the coins listed as “Guerrero” also minted in Campo Morado if the defaced pesos listed under “Guerrero “ were combined with Campo Morado 50 centavos? Then by extension, were the 10 centavos under “Guerrero” and “Morelos” as per the first paragraph also minted in Campo Morado?

Finally, David Hughes has suggested that, given their rarity, these might be trial strikes. Perhaps, when Severo Hernández was cutting dies, he made a pair of eagle dies for Morelos, Emiliano Zapata’s home state, and conducted a few trial strikes. Interestingly, these coins are dated 1916, a time when the Zapatistas retrenched into Morelos.