Catalog
20 Centavos Henequen Market Regulatory Commission
| Issuer | Comisión Reguladora del Mercado de Henequén (State of Yucatan) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on light brown and blue underprint; the face value numeral "20" appears as a large underprint at center, repeated in the four corners, and spelled out in full as a text underprint on the lower zone. The Mérida city coat of arms appears as a vignette at left, with a vignette of a worker harvesting henequén at right. Issuer name arches across the top; a red series letter and a five-digit red serial number are positioned at upper left and upper right respectively; two manuscript signatures with printed titles occupy the lower zone, flanking the issuing location and date; printer and designer credits appear at the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Quedan renunciados los ar- ticulos 558 y 559 del Código de Comercio vigente Este cheque solo será cambia- do en fracciones de a cinco pesos o cantidades de pesos que terminen en cinco ó en cero (Translation: Articles 558 and 559 of the current Commercial Code are waived. This Check will only be changed in fractions of five Pesos or amounts of Pesos that end in five or zero.) |
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| Comments |
Henequén — the agave-derived fiber used for binding twine — dominated Yucatán's economy so completely by 1914 that the state's regulatory commission issued its own currency tied to the trade. The Mexican Revolution had severed reliable coin supplies from the federal government, leaving commercial centers like Mérida to improvise. This note is among the more regionally specific emergency issues of the period: backed not by a bank or a treasury, but by a commodity monopoly.
Printed locally by Guerra's Mérida shop rather than contracted abroad, the production quality reflects what was available under wartime conditions. Hoyos and Manzanilla are both Yucatecan names, confirming this was entirely a local operation from design through press.