A New Coin

I have written before about the new banknotes that are in circulation in Mexico.  The smallest denomination of paper currency was the 20 peso note, worth about one U.S. dollar.  The government intends to replace those bills with coins.  In 2019 the Bank of Mexico issued two commemorative 20 peso coins.  The first was a coin commemorating the 500th anniversary of the founding of the city of Veracruz.  The other commemorated the 100th anniversary of the death of Emiliano Zapata, hero of the Mexican Revolution.

It wasn't until a few days ago that Alejandro came into possession of one of the new coins, the Zapata coin.  He took some pictures of it for me.

Zapata is shown with his trademark moustache and oversized "sombrero".  Across the rim of the hat are written Zapata's slogan of "Tierra y Libertad"... "Land and Liberty".  To the left, the picture of a farmer plowing his field reflects the hero's fight for agrarian reform.  

To the right is a security measure known as a "latent image".  When tilted a silhouette of the map of Mexico is visible.

The reverse side is similar to other coins with Mexico's national emblem, the eagle and the serpent, and the official name of the country, "Estados Unidos Mexicanos"... the United Mexican States.

Alejandro is not thrilled with the idea of coins replacing the twenty peso bill.  Pockets and change purses will be even more weighted down with coins.  We will see if the Mexican government is more successful than the U.S. mint's efforts to replace the dollar bill with coins.