While we’ve previously profiled the Mexican Gold Libertad coin, its Silver Libertad counterpart is perhaps better known. Mexico’s mining industry has existed for centuries and was long a source of gold and silver for the Spanish Empire. Even today Mexico remains the world’s top producer of silver, besting 2nd-place Peru by nearly 50%, 3rd-place China by 70%, and 4th- and 5th-place Poland and Chile by nearly 370%. It’s only natural, then, that Mexico would be the creator of popular silver bullion coinage.
Mexican circulating coinage was once silver, too, until successive governments began inflationary monetary policy that devalued the peso. While the peso was gradually devalued throughout the 20th century, even the smaller peso coins contained decent amounts of silver until the mid-1940s.
Despite successive bouts of currency debasement throughout the 20th century, the Mexican government eventually realized the benefit of producing bullion coinage, and began minting the Silver Libertad coins in 1982. Since then the Silver Libertads have become one of the best known and most popular silver bullion coins in the world. Like the Gold Libertad coins, the Silver Libertad coins feature the Mexican coat of arms surrounded by historical Mexican coats of arms on the obverse, with an image of the winged victory statue from the Mexican Independence Victory Column on the reverse.
While the one-ounce coins set the standard for bullion coins, the Silver Libertad is also available in 1/20-ounce, 1/10-ounce, 1/4-ounce, 1/2-ounce, 2-ounce, 5-ounce, and 1-kilogram versions. Yes, that’s right, you can buy a silver coin that weighs over two pounds. Expect to pay premiums of 80-100% for the one kilo coins because of their very low mintage.
Because of their .999 fineness, Mexican Silver Libertads are also eligible for investment through a silver IRA.
Investing in silver bullion coins through a silver IRA allows investors to invest in silver while deferring taxation until they decide to take a distribution. They can also roll over existing retirement savings such as from a 401(k) into silver coins, tax-free. So if you’re looking to invest in silver in order to take advantage of rising silver prices, it’s worth giving the Mexican Silver Libertad a look.
Coin Specifications
Purity
99.9% silver
Weight
- 1 kilogram: 1000 g
- 5 ounce: 155.5 g
- 2 ounce: 62.2 g
- 1 ounce: 31.1 g
- ½ ounce: 15.55 g
- ¼ ounce: 7.78 g
- 1/10 ounce: 3.11 g
- 1/20 ounce: 1.56 g
Silver Content
- 1 kilogram: 32.15 troy oz.
- 5 ounce: 5 troy oz.
- 2 ounce: 2 troy oz.
- 1 ounce: 1 troy oz.
- ½ ounce: ½ troy oz.
- ¼ ounce: ¼ troy oz.
- 1/10 ounce: 1/10 troy oz.
- 1/20 ounce: 1/20 troy oz.
Diameter
- 1 kilogram: 110 mm
- 5 ounce: 65 mm
- 2 ounce: 48 mm
- 1 ounce (through 1995): 36 mm
- 1 ounce (1996-present): 40 mm
- ½ ounce (through 1995): 30 mm
- ½ ounce (1996-present): 33 mm
- ¼ ounce (through 1995): 25 mm
- ¼ ounce (1996-present): 27 mm
- 1/10 ounce: 20 mm
- 1/20 ounce (through 1995): 16 mm
- 1/20 ounce (1996-present): 15 mm
Thickness
- 1 kilogram: 11.5 mm
- 5 ounce: 5.4 mm
- 2 ounce: 4.5 mm
- 1 ounce (through 1995): 3.47 mm
- 1 ounce (1996-present): 3 mm
- ½ ounce: 2.6 mm
- ¼ ounce: 1.85 mm
- 1/10 ounce: 1.25 mm
- 1/20 ounce: 1 mm