1978 Mexican Onza
 

Hi,

Just wondering how many 1978 mexican onza's (the so called Balance and Scale onza) have been minted. They have been minted far less than the 1979 and 1980. Also it seems that a lot of them have been melted in the 1980 silver- and gold rush.
Perhaps there is some info about it in Krause, but I haven't got Krause's catalogue in my posession.

I've been following this coin on ebay for a few months (and bought a few), it seems that the 1980 onza is offered about 5 times more often than the 1978. The 1979 is somewhere between them.
I found out that the 1980 onza mintage is 1 million, so a wild guess is that about 200,000 1978 onza's exist....

Who can help me out?

Besides the interesting mintage-question, I just love these big honkers !!!!

Regards, Ezust

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

Mine are 1979. I don't think it makes any difference what year they were minted, they will not be sold according to their relative rarity. What matters is that they have one troy ounce of pure silver. My guess is they will bring a tiny bit less than generic rounds since they are sterling.
Welcome to GIM.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

The 1978 onza's were definitely a smaller mintage and usually have a bit of a premium over 79 and 80's. I only have 79 & 80's and these were huge mintages so I treat them as rounds (Ag content only). If you can get a 78 you may pay a premium but I would not count on that premium being there on the sale side. Franklin Sanders has pointed out as the price rises premium disappears in the long run. Hopefully those early to the table will be able to make up any premium in price increases. I know I had a document/article about onza's I'll try to find it cause I think it had mintages listed but my memory is not so good since I read sooooo many articles/commentaries on Ag. If I find I'll post.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

I love onzas, one of my favorite rounds though all mine are early 80's. I just hope there isn't an anti-onza backlash as a result of bad politics with Mexico. I hear that created problems in the numismatic value of Chinese gold pandas.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

hoarder....
Mexican silver Onzas and Libertads are not sterling...they are pure...1 oz of .999 fine silver.

In fact, I don't recall ever seeing a sterling modern bullion coin. Brittainias are close but also are not sterling. They are "Brittainia Silver" = .958 fine.
__________________

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

What is wrong with sterling silver? You don't think there is or will be as much demand for sterling as there will be for .999? Let me ask you one question. Have you ever bought silver jewelry?

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

Actually goldminer, hoarder is correct. Onza's are sterling but they still have 1 oz of silver in them that is why the are bigger than libertads. Libertads are 1 oz .999 silver.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

I guess ya'll have different Onzas' then I have. I've got nine of them in my hand and each one says "1 Onza" (1 ounce) MEXICO "lea 999 PLATA PURA" (Pure silver.)

And the ones I have are smaller in diameter than Libertads...but also thicker, so I suspect they weigh the same.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

I just weighed all nine of the Onzas' I have handy....each weighs between 480 and 480.2 grains so I don't think they are anything but 999 fine Ag.

There's not enough room in this weight for any alloyed metal.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

1982 to present are 1 oz .999 pure silver coins.

http://www.southerncoin.com/COIN-29.pdf

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

Mine are larger in diameter and thinner than Libertads.
In addition to "una onza troy de plata pura" it says just above the left scale "ley .925"

Nothing wrong with sterling, just many people like purity. Look at how people get enamored with Canadian .9999 stuff.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

That site does in fact refer to 1978 as rare and demands a premium. I would certainly not pay a premium for that year and don't think it will make much difference when silver spikes. I didn't pay much for mine (1979), maybe 40 cents over spot at most. I've got a big bag full of them.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

Sorry, but as I said, ya'll must have different Onzas' than I do.

There is no .925 and if there were the coins could not weigh 480 grains and contain 1 Tr. oz. of Ag.

And .925 is not Plata Pura.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

Are you sure yous don't say "Libertad" on them somewhere?

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

The 78' is believed to have a mintage of less than 28,000 coins. Coins will maintain there premiums if silver stays on a steady increase, as it has the past few years (which has been 3x). If we get a huge spike, all bets are off on premiums.... but the premium coins will sell easier if prices go into orbit. Discounts will be the norm if prices get way up real fast.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

1982-95 have 'Independencia Y Libertad' stamped on the rim.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

Atahualpa is correct...and every Libertad I have seen from fractional oz. up to the Kilo (32+ oz.) size has been .999 fine silver also.

Cornfused
 

I'm a little cornfused. Just what, specifically differentiates "onzas" from "Libertads"?
I thought the thicker, smaller diameter 999 coins were Libertads, while the heavier sterling large diameter ones were Onzas.

Is there really a distinction or are they all jumbled up?

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

They say Una Onza Troy de Plata Pura - one troy ounce pure silver and they are .925. They weigh 33.825 grams. Just because they say they are sterling (.925) doesn't mean they do not have 1 oz of pure silver in them. It just means they have another alloy in addition to the silver. That is why Onzas are much larger coins than the Libertads.

Many people today sometimes refer to Libertads erroneously as Onzas just because the word onza is stamped on the libertad coin. Onzas were made I believe in the 50's and then again between 1978-1980. Onzas have the 'Press' on the face and scales on the back. It is a much larger coin than a Libertad.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

horder....
Onza's and Libertads are different coins. They both have an anger on the obverse but it is a different angel, and the reverse of the coins is different.

And I'm gonna say one more time and them I quit......every one I have ever seen is 1 oz. of 999 fine silver. "Fine" does not = .925...."fine" = .999

You all must have different ones then I have ever seen.

Now I quit.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

I think part of the confusion is due to dealers that refer to Libertads as Onzas because the word onza is stamped on the coin. I actually had a dealer try to tell me the Libertads he was selling were Onzas. I tried to educate him but he did not want to learn.

Libertads are .999 1 oz silver coins. Onzas are .925 one ounce silver coins sometimes refered as the Mexican Dollar. I was a bit off on my early date for Onzas, they were actually introduced in the 1940's then not again until 1978. The actual weight of an Onza is more than an ounce.

Libertads started in 1982. They have two designs - the new design (similar to the old - I prefer the old) started in 1996.

If you really desire to have correct information on the difference between these two coins you can use google and search for "Mexican Onza 1978" or this PDF may help you on your way to understanding.

http://www.southerncoin.com/COIN-29.pdf

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

seems like mexico has been into the gold/silver thing for quite sometime

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

people seem to ignore politics when it comes to PM's. the apartheid era Krugerrands could be considered "bad voodoo", but they don't sell for more or less even though they may have been a source of revenue for the South African government during the apartheid era.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/1980-Mo-M-Mexico-...item518ddd6993

Good enough?

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

And, that is a fact.:23_28_100s: Two different coins; both containing 31.1 grams of silver. One is .999 and the other is .925. Both are always welcome in my house. Premiums? Only for those willing to pay.

Re: 1978 Mexican Onza
 

wow, someone hit the way back button. I remember this dialog as if it were yesterday. it was my early GIM lesson on beating my head against a wall