10 Centavos – Mexico

In 1864, Mexico's currency situation was chaotic and deeply intertwined with the nation's political crisis. The country was in the midst of the French Intervention, with Archduke Maximilian of Austria installed as Emperor of the Second Mexican Empire, backed by French troops. This created a dual-power struggle against the republican government of Benito Juárez, which had retreated to the north. Consequently, two separate regimes were issuing money and incurring debt, leading to a complete fragmentation of the monetary system. The Juárez government, financially desperate, had massively increased the printing of unbacked paper money (bilimbiques), which circulated at a steep and volatile discount to silver.

The monetary landscape was a complex patchwork of competing currencies. In areas controlled by the Empire, efforts were made to stabilize finances by planning for a new decimal currency and recognizing some foreign coins, but confidence was low. Meanwhile, the Juarist paper money flooded its zones of control, while in others, people relied on pre-Republican Spanish colonial coins, French francs, and U.S. dollars for daily transactions. The most trusted medium remained silver pesos fuertes and gold coins, which were hoarded, leading to a severe shortage of sound money for commerce. This effectively created a multi-tiered economy where goods had vastly different prices depending on the currency used.

This financial instability was both a cause and a symptom of the wider turmoil. The Empire's attempts at reform were undermined by the ongoing war, which drained the treasury through military expenses and loans from French banks. For the average Mexican, the currency chaos meant rampant inflation, uncertainty, and economic hardship, as the value of money could collapse with shifting military fortunes. The precarious monetary situation of 1864 thus reflected the Empire's fragile hold on power and the immense challenges of governing a country divided by civil and international war.