20 Centavos – State of Sinaloa

In 1915, the State of Sinaloa, like much of revolutionary Mexico, was engulfed in a severe monetary crisis. The collapse of the Porfirio Díaz regime and the ensuing factional warfare between Constitutionalists, Conventionists, and Villistas destroyed confidence in the federal government's currency. The Huerta regime had previously flooded the country with depreciating bilimbiques (unbacked paper money), and the succeeding revolutionary factions continued this practice, issuing their own competing currencies to fund their armies. In Sinaloa, these notes, often poorly printed and easily counterfeited, circulated with little to no real value, leading to widespread rejection by merchants and the public.

The economic reality in Sinaloa became one of extreme fragmentation and hyperinflation. Alongside the myriad of revolutionary scrip, older Porfirian silver pesos and gold coins, which retained intrinsic value, were hoarded, disappearing from daily transactions. This created a brutal dual system: essential goods, if available, were priced in precious metal or demanded through barter, while the proliferating paper money was accepted only under duress and at catastrophic discount rates. The result was a breakdown in commerce, severe shortages, and immense hardship for the civilian population, who saw their wages and savings rendered worthless.

In response, local authorities and commercial entities in Sinaloan cities like Culiacán and Mazatlán took matters into their own hands. Municipal governments and powerful merchant chambers began issuing their own vales (vouchers) or cartones (cardboard notes), backed by the promise of the local treasury or the credit of the merchant guild. These locally issued currencies, while limited in scope, provided a temporarily more stable medium of exchange within specific cities or regions, attempting to restore a semblance of economic functionality amidst the national monetary chaos. This patchwork of local solutions underscored the absence of central authority and the profound localization of power during this tumultuous phase of the Mexican Revolution.