World Coin of the Week

The Six-Star Muera Huerta Peso

By Todd McKenna

Numismatist

In this column last week we presented an incredibly rare Suriana 2 Pesos minted in the southern state of Guerrero under the enigmatic Emiliano Zapata. This week we present another astounding rarity of the Mexican Revolution which was produced by one of the most famous personalities of this period, Fransico “Pancho” Villa. Minted in the village of Cuencame in the state of Durango, the Six-Star Muera Huerta Peso is the earliest derivation of one of the most famous coins of the revolution.  As one of the few coins in numismatic history to include a call for death against a specific individual, this type is as audacious and engaging as the man who ordered it struck.

Minted in the turbulent year of 1914 the coin orders the death of Victoriano Huerta who had, through a military coup, usurped the Mexican Presidency from Francisco Madero and had him summarily executed the previous year. This act brought the revolutionary armies of Villa, Obregon, Carranza and Zapata against Huerta under the Plan of Guadalupe. Villa’s hatred of Huerta had actually begun much earlier when he had been placed in Huerta’s army by Francisco Madero as an honorary colonel during the suppression of Pascual Orozco’s revolt of 1912.  Seen as an overly ambitious competitor and loose cannon, Huerta had Villa jailed and scheduled for the firing squad for insubordination and horse thievery. Only the intervention of Madero saved Villa, but the hatred between the two men had been made plain. Further exacerbating this personal hatred was the murder of Villa’s political mentor Abraham Gonzalez by Huerta’s forces in March of 1913. Thus for the coinage distributed to the areas under his control Villa chose a direct and plain call to arms: “Death to Huerta”. Appalled by such a personal affront Huerta made it punishable by death to possess one of these Pesos. After a string of military losses culminating in the Battle of Zacatecas, General Huerta was forced to resign the presidency and went into exile, dying in U.S. custody in 1916.

The coin offered in our November Baltimore auction is incredible not only for its rarity as an early “Six-Star” variety, but also for its excellent state of preservation with a grade of NGC MS 61. As is the case with most revolutionary coinage from this period, the design is slightly crude yet earnest and attractive. The classic radiant liberty cap is graced with golden toned luster giving an almost backlit appearance, while the eagle is fully present and surrounded with nice light peripheral toning. An attractive and rare variety of an already sought after, type this piece would make an excellent addition to any Mexican or Revolutionary collection. We will have this piece along with our entire November sale available for viewing at our offices in Irvine CA (Oct 23-30), our offices in New York City (Nov 6-10) and on our website, StacksBowers.com, in the weeks preceding the sale.