50 Centavos Hidalgo del Parral, reeded edge

Issued by the State of Chihuahua during the Mexican Revolution, this piece circulated in a region that was effectively Pancho Villa's operational base. The Constitutionalist forces controlling Chihuahua minted their own coinage out of practical necessity — federal supply lines were severed and commerce required a local medium of exchange. Hidalgo del Parral, the mining town whose name this coin carries, had been a significant silver-producing center since the colonial period, which made local silver coinage a logical if improvised solution.

The reeded edge variant distinguishes this piece from the plain-edge emission of the same type.