Mexican gold tokens began being produced in 1949 and continues to this day. They range from 8k to 22k gold, and a few varieties were also struck in silver. By in large, Mexican gold tokens are mostly related to Maximilian who ruled Mexico from 1864-1867. In addition, there are tokens bearing both Maximilian and his wife Carlota; tokens bearing Cuauhtemoc, the last emperor of the Aztecs; and tokens bearing Augustin I Iturbide who ruled Mexico from 1822-1823.
I list each of these categories separately and also have separate listings for miscellaneous tokens that don't fit within those types, and listings for small-sized gold copies of Mexican gold coins. These tokens are commonly referred to as Mexico Gold Fantasy tokens, but have also been misrepresented on Ebay and elsewhere as the original coins, or gold 1 Peso coins. They were made for collectors, jewelry use, tourists visiting Mexico, and as marriage tokens.
Although a number of these were used as marriage tokens, none are marked as such. Non-gold marriage tokens such as these were made specifically for that purpose. (See Forrest Stevens website for excellent information and variety listings of Marriage/Arras tokens.)
Weights and Measurements
Weights and measurements can be a tricky area. They will often differ from one person to another. Similarly, thickness can vary easily depending on how lightly or firmly a caliper is pressed against the coin. It's not unusual to find differences of ±.01mm in the thickness. However, once you handled these coins for awhile you get a feel for whether they are real gold or not and can sometimes approximate the karat. With regard to weight, differences are usually seen coin to coin. Makers of these aren't held to the quality control standards of a major Mint. Weights can vary, as do planchet sizes.
Hi Dave a background of history of events can often help.
The Victorian era corresponds with the reign of Queen Victoria in England from 1837 to 1901. The period is beloved for its attention to high morals, modesty and proper decorum, as inspired by the Queen and her husband, Prince Albert. The Victorian era was also an optimistic time in which scientific and industrial invention thrived.
Developments in printing produced a proliferation of Victorian scrap art, cards, and magazines. The importance placed on civic conscience and social responsibility engendered notable developments toward gender and racial equality, such as the legal abolishment of slavery in America.
Elsewhere around the globe, the Regency era saw the independence of several South American countries including Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Chile. Spain experienced a revolution, resulting in the reinstatement of the Constitution of 1812. In 1829, the Peace of Adrianople ended the Russo-Turk War and Turkey acknowledged Greek independence.
In America, the Victorian era is captured in the gun-slinging, trail-blazing culture of the "Wild West", especially during the gold rush of the late 1840s. Perhaps the most devastating event of the era was the American Civil War that nearly ravaged an entire nation in the 1860s. Prompted by the abolitionist efforts of Frederick Douglass (pictured at left), Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, and John Brown, the Northern Union and South Confederacy launched battle at Fort Sumter in 1861.
For nearly four years, the North and South engaged in a war that claimed the lives of over half a million Americans. The war finally ended in 1865, with the surrender of the Confederacy and the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery.
AIn the United States, race relations of a different kind led to internal conflict in the West. By 1849, tens of thousands had left China from Hong Kong to migrate to countries throughout the world, including the sugar plantations of Hawaii and to the Pacific Northwest for the Gold Rush.
In the South, the Delta Chinese arrived in the years immediately after the Civil War to work on the cotton plantations and then opened groceries. Being neither black nor white in the Jim Crow South, the Chinese navigated a confusing, sometimes inconsistent set of racism, exclusion, segregated schools, laws and social mores.
Hatred against the Chinese reached such a boiling point that in 1882, Congress passed The Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited all immigration of admission of unskilled Chinese laborers for ten years, alongside a ban against "lunatics, idiots, convicts, persons likely to become public charges." The Act was renewed in 1892 and the ban made "permanent" in 1902.
