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A large number of coins of the revolution are attributed to General Francisco “Pancho” Villa. Those rightly, attributed to the general include the coinages the Ejército Constitucionalista and the Ejército del Norte of Chihuahua for 1914 – 1915; the 1915 coinage of the State of Aguascalientes; and the Ejército del Norte coinage of Guadalajara, Jalisco of 1915.
In many numismatic publications, the coins of Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, and the famous Muera Huerta pesos of Cuencamé, Durango are wrongly attributed to Villa. The 1913 coinage of Hidalgo del Parral rightly belongs to General Manuel Chao, while the Muera Huerta peso was issued by General Calixto Contreras and his deputy, General Severino Ceniceros at Cuencamé.
After capturing the city of Chihuahua in December 1913, General Villa established a military government for the State of Chihuahua which survived until November 1915. Early in 1914, a decision was made to re-open the old republican branch mint at Chihuahua to produce coins for the División del Norte, and for the civilian economy of the state. It took some time to refurbish the facility and to locate retired mint workers who could run it, but by December 1914 the Chihuahua mint was back in full operation. Coins were produced bearing the dates 1914 and 1915, and in denominations of 5 and 10 centavos. |
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CHIHUAHUA COINAGE |
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KM-612 Rare |
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KM-613 Common |
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A common obverse die was designed by M. Revilla and used for the production of all Chihuahua 5 and 10 centavos pieces of 1914 and 1915.
A reverse die, designed by M. Salazar, was used to produce the 5 and 10 centavos of 1914 and 1915. A single run of 1914 5 centavos had “rosette” or “dumbbell” ornaments at either side of the date, as shown below. The remainder of the 1914 and 1915 5 centavos pieces, as well as the 10 centavos of 1915, had “spearhead” ornaments at either side of the date. |
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KM-613 Common |
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KM-615 Common |
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KM-619 Scarce |
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Late in 1914, following the Convention of Aguascalientes, General Villa assumed command of all Conventionist forces contesting with Carranza’s Ejército Constitucionalista for control of Mexico. Villa re-designated his División del Norte as the Ejército del Norte. The legend for his Chihuahua coinage was changed for the issue of the silver peso to Ejército del Norte, but on the 5 and 10 centavos pieces it remained Ejército Constitucionalista. The reason for the failure to change the legend for the 5 and 10 centavos pieces is unknown, but it may have been a simple matter of economics. It simply may not have been worth the cost and effort to make the change.
Although the 1 peso was intended to pay the troops of the Ejército del Norte, most of them wound up in the hands of Villa’s suppliers. Consequently, numerous uncirculated specimens exist even though the coins themselves are scarce. |
