10 Centavos – Mexico

Following the fall of the Second Mexican Empire in 1867, the restored Republic under Benito Juárez inherited a financial landscape of profound disarray. The nation's currency system was a chaotic patchwork of coinage from various regimes, foreign coins (especially Spanish and French), and a vast quantity of devalued paper money. Most damaging was the legacy of the infalsificables notes, irredeemable paper currency forcibly issued by both conservative and liberal governments during the War of Reform (1857-1861) and the subsequent French Intervention. This paper money was virtually worthless, destroying public trust in any form of fiduciary currency and crippling everyday commerce.

Facing this crisis, the Juárez administration, and later the government of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, pursued a radical policy of monetary orthodoxy and metallism. Their fundamental solution was to abolish paper money entirely and return to a currency based solely on precious metals. In 1867, they demonetized the discredited paper issues and reaffirmed the silver peso, or "Mexican dollar," as the sole legal tender. This famous coin, with its .903 fineness, became the bedrock of stability. Its high silver content and consistent minting made it one of the world's most trusted trade coins, circulating widely across Asia and North America.

This hard-currency policy successfully restored fiscal credibility and facilitated international trade, but it came at a significant domestic cost. By tying the money supply strictly to silver, the government severely limited its ability to stimulate the war-shattered economy or fund major reconstruction projects. Credit remained scarce, and the benefits of stability were often felt more by foreign merchants and large landowners than by the common populace. Thus, in 1867, Mexico's currency situation was defined by a decisive—and austere—turn toward metallic purity, a choice that provided essential stability while imposing strict limitations on national recovery and economic development.