100 Peso Venustiano Carranza Banknote (2016 Constitution Centennial)

Most 100 peso Venustiano Carranza notes are worth exactly 100 pesos, roughly 5 to 6 US dollars at current exchange, no matter what eBay listings claim. The premium copies, uncirculated with a low or repeating serial number, or with a genuine printing error, are the ones that sell for a real multiple of face value. Here is the honest breakdown.

This is the 100 peso commemorative note for the Centennial of the 1917 Mexican Constitution. The Banco de México (Mexico's central bank, "Banxico") issued it on February 5, 2017. It belongs to what collectors call Family F, and it is a special commemorative issue, not the everyday 100 peso note that pictures the poet-king Nezahualcóyotl. If you have one, the first thing to confirm is that yours is the red commemorative design and not the standard circulating type, because they are valued differently.

What's on the note

The front (obverse) shows the solemn ceremony in which Venustiano Carranza, a key leader of the Mexican Revolution and the president who promulgated the 1917 Constitution, takes his oath before the Constituent Congress, alongside Luis Manuel Rojas, president of that assembly.

The back (reverse) shows the deputies of the Constituent Congress swearing to uphold the new Constitution. The theme across both sides is the drafting of the document that still governs Mexico today, which is why it was released for the 2017 centennial.

What it's worth

If the note still passes at a shop or bank, its baseline value is face value, 100 pesos, currently around 5 to 6 US dollars. That is the floor for a worn, folded, everyday example. No amount of age turns a common circulated note into a fortune.

Three things create a real premium:

1. Uncirculated condition. Crisp, no folds, no stains, no soft corners. A truly new note can bring a modest multiple of face, and much more if graded high by a third party.
2. Special serial numbers. A very low serial (like 0000012), a solid number (all same digit), a radar/palindrome (reads the same both ways, for example 1234321), or a repeating pattern. These are what serious collectors chase.
3. Genuine printing errors. Misaligned cuts, ink smears, missing print, or a folded-in-manufacture flaw. A verified factory error can be worth several times face value. Normal wear and handling damage is not an error and adds nothing.

Because this is a commemorative with a defined print run rather than an open circulating series, interest tends to rise once the note starts leaving circulation and clean examples get harder to find. That is the usual pattern for modern world paper money.

Attribute	Detail
Denomination	100 pesos
Type	Commemorative, Centennial of the 1917 Constitution
Issuer	Banco de México (Banxico)
Family / series	Family F
Issue date	February 5, 2017
Front	Venustiano Carranza taking oath before the Constituent Congress
Back	Deputies of the Constituent Congress swearing the Constitution
Baseline value	Face value (about 5 to 6 USD) if circulated
Premium value	Higher for uncirculated, special serials, or genuine errors

The listings you should ignore

Online marketplaces are full of this note priced at absurd amounts. A common circulated example is not rare and is not worth hundreds of dollars. Millions of these were printed. The real value is driven by condition, serial number, and error status, not by an optimistic seller's asking price. Compare completed sales, not active listings.

How to tell if yours is genuine

Check the security features Banxico built into it:

• Watermark visible when held to light, part of the paper itself, not printed on top.
• Security thread embedded in the paper.
• Microprinting that stays sharp under a loupe.
• Raised (intaglio) printing you can feel with a fingertip.

A counterfeit usually feels flat and smooth, has no tactile relief, and shows a watermark that was printed rather than embedded. If anything looks off, post clear photos of both sides in the Pesoteca forum and the community can weigh in.

For context on modern Mexican paper money, see why the 20 peso note is leaving circulation and the data on the most counterfeited Mexican banknotes.

Where to sell it

The safest route is a verified dealer from the Pesoteca shop directory, who can appraise it on the spot, or the Pesoteca buy-and-sell forum where collectors trade directly. Photograph both sides in good light and note the serial number before you agree on anything. Do not dump it to the first buyer on social media.

Have a Carranza 100 with an odd serial or a possible printing error? Post it in the forum and let's see what you've actually got.

This 100-peso note from 2016 is a commemorative issue marking the centennial of the Political Constitution of 1917. The obverse features Venustiano Carranza, the Coahuila leader who headed the constitutionalist movement after Victoriano Huerta's coup and who, as First Chief, convened the Constituent Congress that met in Querétaro.

The reverse does not depict a battle, but rather the solemn moment when Carranza, alongside the president of the Constituent Congress, is sworn in before the assembly that enacted the new charter. That Constitution incorporated social rights that were pioneering worldwide, such as Article 27 on land and Article 123 on labor.

As a commemorative note of the Family F series, this piece celebrates one of the most enduring institutional legacies of the Mexican Revolution and forms part of the special issues with which Banco de México has marked foundational dates in the nation's history.