mexican 20 centavos

Resplandor

Can some one please help me understand the reason for the big difference in prices for the uncirculated mexican bronze 20 centavos 1920 & 1935 if mintages are in the millions for both?

1920 --- mintage: 4 835 000 Price: $650.00

1935 --- mintage: 20 000 000 Price: $ 80.00


Did they melt down a bunch of them?
Thanks




Jorge

mrpotatoheadd

I don't know the answer for sure, but I'll take a guess. Two words... "Gresham's Law".

Silver 20 centavos were minted from 1920 through 1943, including the years 1920 and 1935. Given the choice between spending a copper coin or a silver coin, each worth 20 centavos, people would generally keep the silver and spend the copper, leaving very few copper coins with no circulation wear.

edited to add...

Upon further review, it appears that some of the copper coins may have been withdrawn and melted according to Richard Long's "The Availability of 20th Century Mexican Coins". I probably should have checked before posting before.

TwoKopeiki

In 1920, rising silver prices prompted the creation of a bronze 20C, due to people hoarding silver. These were made for six months, after which a silver 20C of lower silver content appeared. As mrpotatoheadd mentioned in his post - with silver being hoarded more people used bronze 20C, resulting in fewer MS examples surviving. In 1935, again because of fluctuations in the price of silver, bronze 20C coins made a brief re-appearance. However, by 1937, silver prices stabilized and bronze 20C were officially retired from circulation.

Resplandor

Thank you mrpotatoheadd and Roman that sure makes sense and satisfies my curiosity it was bugging me for a while now but felt it would be a silly question to ask so I never did... silly me.