Mexican Cinco Pesos

Before the creation of the South African Krugerrand, the Cinco Pesos gold coin was a globally popular small bullion coin.

The Mexican Mint created these coins over a 50 year period from 1905 to 1955, and the Banco de Mexico issued them. Under government instruction, most of these Cinco Pesos coins have been restruck to say 1955 as the year of minting.

On the front of the coin is the celebrated pastor Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. He is a war hero in Mexico, having led an army of 90,000 civilians into battle during the Mexican War of Independence. A side portrait of his head sits in the middle of the coin, and the words 'Cinco Pesos' and the year of the coin's creation follow the edge of the coin around.

The back of the coin has the Mexican national coat of arms. A golden eagle stands upon a cactus while eating a snake, as told in Mexican folklore about how their people would know they were in the right part of the country to settle down and build homes. The phrase on the back of the coin is “Estados Unidos Mexicanos” which literally translates as United Mexican States.