Starting Up A Collection Of Beautiful Mexican Libertad’s

VegasDan

Here’s my start so far.Well,I think they are a beautiful coin anyway.Some of these dates get kinda pricey at around $200 to $300 dollars in high grade.Not sure if I will get them all or just most of them.I can get quite a few more different dates for $300 then paying that for just one key date.
Has anyone else put a set of these together?

Or are they just considered another 1 once of silver coin to most.

ricko

@VegasDan... They are beautiful coins. Several on here collect them.... I have been thinking about getting one. I would just get a raw one and self slab for protection. Cheers, RickO

1630Boston

I think @joeykoins started a Libertad collection earlier this year, see here https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1070912/2-new-buys-for-my-2-new-starter-collections

Weiss

I love Libertads!

Gather 'round, children.

In the long ago times, 40 years past, King .999™ had just won The Silver Wars™, having dethroned the heir apparent Prince Sterling™ after the death of Queen 90%™. But it took a couple of decades to sift through all of the fog of war to see what the new world order looked like.

Mexico had a long history of making 1 troy ounce silver coins going all the way back to the 1940s. They saw the writing on the wall in the Hunt Brothers era of silver demand and were one of the very first governments to define the new world order of .999 pure 1 troy ounce coins with the introduction of the Libertad in 1982. The Mexican Libertad was out of the gate before the Silver Eagle, the Maple, the Angel, the Panda, the Philharmonic.

DrBuster

I've got a small handfull of them, love them for sure.

USMC_6115

I have a few, but have started to collect by date. I'll just collect them RAW as the graded ones get pricey quick. Mintages are crazy low compared to American Eagles. I've read somewhere the the 2022 could be a LOW mintage issue.. but who knows?

jmski52

Nice coins for sure, but what is the premium on these? Every time I look, they are more expensive than even the Silver Eagles. Am I looking in the wrong places?

Weiss

One of my local B&Ms sells them the same as any other eagle or maple. But they don't get them that often.

idratherbgardening

@jmski52 said:
Nice coins for sure, but what is the premium on these? Every time I look, they are more expensive than even the Silver Eagles. Am I looking in the wrong places?

You are not looking in the wrong place. They used to have premiums in the same range as eagles or maples but a few years back the Mexico Mont decided so start charging a big premium for them and it’s raised the prices on them for all the years. Or more people think they are cool and driving up demand. In years past I could find them in generic bins for a couple dollars over spot but no more.

asheland

I love them myself. I have a few dates, I’m also collecting them very slowly.

Weiss

johnny9434

its time to get a few for myself (more in the pile is good)

VegasDan

@jmski52 said:
Nice coins for sure, but what is the premium on these?

I’m not sure about other what anyone else has been able to get BU Libertad’s for but the best deal I could ever get on them is around $42 to $44 dollars each.If you ever sell them you will get quite a bit over spot also.A few I paid over $50 for.
Slabbed even more.

Estil

Wow...I had no idea they got started even before the Eagle and the Leaf. Any good place on Ebay you can get these from (the 80s/90s ones of course), preferably in capsules?

jmski52

_I had no idea they got started even before the Eagle and the Leaf. _

I had 100 Onzas back in 1974, so Mexico was making 1 oz. silver bullion coins even early, as Weiss mentioned.

Weiss

I alluded to the original "onzas" with my allegory story and "Prince Sterling".
Onzas are made from sterling silver (92.5% pure). But at 33.625 grams, they weigh more than a troy ounce's 31.1035 grams, so they contain one troy ounce of pure silver.

Mexico resurrected the 1940s "onza" series in 1978. It seemed logical. America had ended their 90% pure silver circulating coinage in 1964. Mexico is the world's largest silver producer. So they attempted to supply the demand for silver by producing coins with a troy ounce of pure silver in a form even more pure than what most people were used to: 92.5% pure silver rather than 90% pure silver.

At 41.5 mm vs. a US silver dollar at 38.1mm, the Onza is a great big, beefy silver coin. In fact, they're so big that it's hard to find a coin tube that will work for them. Even the silver eagle rolls are too small.

Ultimately, the market decided to leapfrog past 92.5% pure silver all the way up to the .999 pure silver standard. I've surmised the reason is that while 90% pure silver was a known and accepted purity, and 92.5% sterling is even more pure and should have therefore been even more sought after. But after the 1960s, silver was no longer circulating. It didn't need the durability and strength of silver alloyed with copper any more.

So in a way, Mexico gets even more credit. They released over 6 million 92.5% pure silver onzas in 1980. Just two years later, they released over 1,000,000 99.9% pure libertads. They read the market and shifted gears to pure silver, still beating all the other country's silver bullion coins to the punch and creating one of the most beautiful silver bullion coins in the process.

And let's face it: .999 pure silver is just damn sexy.

But that doesn't mean I don't love the onzas. And the libertads.

asheland

I love the original Libertads from the early to mid 80's!

LukeMarshall

Great Choice, the Mexican Libertad is an impressive coin! The early 80s are nice and thick, with a lettered edge. A transition in the 90s gave it a reeded edge. A later update increased the diameter of the coin and the design changed. You have a lot to look forward to!

Oh, and I like how you mentioned Libertad and It gave Weiss a good excuse to share some pictures!

If there were only someone drinking from a colonial silver vessel, next to a kilogram sized asian ingot, holding a CAC certified pine tree shilling, all the while assembling a set of Gold Indian Chief Bolivares and wearing a big honking gold chain...

👀

Weiss

To be fair, I didn't do a Metal Porn today. Figured I better work in some images somehow

USMC_6115

I just picked up these two 2022s:

Cladiator

Nice start Vegas, they are beautiful coins. The newer design is nice but the older is outstanding. I'm really appreciate the edge lettering.

ps. I cured my urge for Mexican silver with the Onza's Weiss spoke of. Had to get myself a roll of '79's and a roll of '80's before the fever subsided. I'll have to snap a photo of them for his next Friday metal porn thread.

idratherbgardening

A score from a few years back and long gone now...

carew4me

Love this issue. If your not building a slabbed collection I would recommend CAPS albums.

USMC_6115

Just added these:

asheland

Out of the few that I have, I believe this is the very best one that I have as far as the year and the condition:

I’m not sure if it’s quite worth sending in to be certified, but maybe one day.

https://youtu.be/_rSETjXC7Hg

USMC_6115

@asheland
Nice! I think it is the 2nd lowest mintage too.. I would definitely send it in!

asheland

@USMC_6115 said:
@asheland
Nice! I think it is the 2nd lowest mintage too.. I would definitely send it in!

I remember looking it up and seeing a very low mintage, and, what’s more, this example is very clean with no milk spots or toning or anything it’s really nice. 👍

pmh1nic

I have one gold and one silver. Beautiful coins but pricey.

MetroD

@USMC_6115 said:
@asheland
Nice! I think it is the 2nd lowest mintage too.. I would definitely send it in!

@asheland said:
I remember looking it up and seeing a very low mintage, and, what’s more, this example is very clean with no milk spots or toning or anything it’s really nice. 👍

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertad_(coin)