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10 Pesos Pattern, Cabeza De Coyolxauhqui, Silver
| Issuer | Mexico |
|---|---|
| Year | 1978 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | The Mexican national coat of arms occupies the central field, depicting a Mexican golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus and devouring a serpent, rendered in fine relief with a wreath of oak and laurel branches encircling the base. The national legend ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS arcs along the upper periphery in Latin capitals. |
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| Reverse description | A bold sculptural effigy of the severed head of Coyolxauhqui, the Aztec moon goddess, is depicted in high relief at center, turned slightly to the right, faithfully reproducing the iconography of the monumental stone disc discovered at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. The face displays characteristic Aztec ritual ornamentation including circular ear ornaments, a decorated headdress along the crown, and an open mouth. The denomination legend DIEZ PESOS appears in the lower field, with the date 1978 inscribed below. |
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| Additional information |
This is a pattern strike — never authorized for circulation — produced during Mexico's systematic exploration of pre-Columbian imagery as potential coinage designs in the late 1970s. The Coyolxauhqui Stone had been dramatically rediscovered just two years earlier, in February 1978, when electrical workers excavating near the Zócalo in Mexico City accidentally unearthed it during cable-laying work. The find effectively halted construction and triggered the excavation that would become the Templo Mayor archaeological project.
The timing of this pattern is direct. The stone's emergence was a major national event, and the mint moved quickly to explore it as a design candidate. It was not adopted for circulation coinage.