20 Pesos Veracruz Centennial 2014: Value & Prices

If you found a two-tone Mexican 20 pesos coin dated 1914-2014 with two military busts on the back, here is the honest answer: it is worth around 12 to 55 USD depending on condition, not the hundreds of dollars some social media posts claim. This is a modern commemorative made in large numbers, so its value comes from condition, not rarity.

What this coin is

The full name is the 20 Pesos Centenario de la Gesta Heroica del Puerto de Veracruz, meaning "100 years of the heroic defense of the Port of Veracruz." Mexico issued it in 2014 to mark the centennial of the 1914 US occupation of Veracruz. It is a bimetallic coin, meaning it has two parts: a golden outer ring made of aluminum bronze and a silvery center made of copper-nickel. There is no precious metal in it. Do not expect any silver or gold melt value.

The reverse (back) shows the busts of two defenders, Uribe and Azueta, with the Naval Military School behind them, silhouettes of civilian defenders on the left, an anchor on the right, and the dates 1914-2014.

How much is it worth in 2026?

Real market prices, in US dollars:

• Circulated (worn from pocket use): roughly 12 to 22 USD
• Good condition / XF (light wear, most detail crisp): 22 to 35 USD
• Uncirculated with original luster or in a sealed official blister pack: 35 to 55 USD

The official sealed blister-pack version carries a reference price of around 55 USD (validated by the Pesoteca catalog). A loose uncirculated example sits just below that. Any listing quoting hundreds or thousands of dollars is a post with no real buyer.

Coin	Year	Condition	Approx. value (USD)
20 Pesos Veracruz Centennial	2014	Circulated	12 to 22
20 Pesos Veracruz Centennial	2014	XF / good	22 to 35
20 Pesos Veracruz Centennial	2014	UNC / blister	35 to 55

With a mintage of 5,000,000 pieces, this coin is common. High mintage keeps the price modest even for pristine examples.

The million-peso myth

Social media regularly pushes posts claiming this 20 pesos coin sells for tens of thousands of dollars. It does not. Those are asking prices with no completed sale behind them. A genuine 2014 Veracruz commemorative in average condition is a 12 to 22 USD coin, full stop. What can raise the value is a verified mint error (off-center strike, die rotation, double strike), not simple age or the word "commemorative." Most "errors" shown online are post-mint damage: scratches, corrosion, or bumps, which lower value rather than raise it.

How to tell if yours is genuine

Check the physical specs against the official figures:

• Total weight: 15.945 grams
• Diameter: 32 mm
• Composition: copper-nickel center, aluminum-bronze ring
• Edge: interrupted reeding (segments of ridges with smooth gaps)
• Date: only 2014 exists; the coin reads 1914-2014

Use a jewelry scale and a caliper. Fakes and altered pieces usually miss the weight or diameter, show flat relief, or have the two colors bleeding into each other. If your specs match and the two metals are cleanly separated, you almost certainly have the real thing.

Where to sell it

For the fairest price, use a verified coin shop from the Pesoteca dealer directory, which can appraise it on the spot, or list it in the Pesoteca buy-and-sell forum among collectors. Photograph the front, back, and edge clearly, and check the price range in this guide before you sell. Avoid dumping it on Facebook to the first bidder.

If you have other Mexican 20 pesos commemoratives, they follow the same pattern. See the Toma de Zacatecas Centennial and the Belisario Domínguez for comparison.

Have one and not sure of the grade? Post clear photos in the Pesoteca forum and let the community weigh in before you list it.

On April 21, 1914, the United States Marine Corps landed at the port of Veracruz. The occupation came in the middle of the conflict between the government of Victoriano Huerta and President Woodrow Wilson, who refused to recognize him. Facing the invasion, the defense was as uneven as it was brave: a handful of federal soldiers, civilian volunteers and, above all, the cadets of the Naval Military School went out to resist.

From that day two names remain that Mexico does not forget: Lieutenant José Azueta and cadet Virgilio Uribe, fallen defending the port. Uribe died in combat; Azueta, wounded, refused American medical aid and died on May 10. For them Veracruz received the title of heroic, and its heroic deed is commemorated every April 21.

This piece was issued for the Centennial of that defense. The decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on April 3, 2014, and its reverse bears the portraits of Uribe and Azueta with the Naval School in the background.

The spark: Tampico and the ship Ipiranga

The invasion did not come out of nowhere. On April 9, 1914, some American sailors were detained in Tampico for violating port regulations. Admiral Mayo demanded formal apologies, including a 21-gun salute to the flag of the United States, and Mexico did not yield. At almost the same time it became known that the German ship Ipiranga was carrying armament for Huerta bound for Veracruz. That was the perfect excuse for the landing. Shortly after 11 in the morning of April 21, the marines came ashore; General Gustavo A. Maass ordered an initial defense and then withdrew his troops toward Tejería, leaving the resistance to San Juan de Ulúa and the Naval Military School. There, commodore Manuel Azueta rallied the cadets: "Long live Mexico! To arms, boys! The homeland is in danger!" The cadet Virgilio Uribe Robles, barely 18 years old, fell that same afternoon; Lieutenant José Azueta Abad, the commodore's son, operated a machine gun in the middle of the street. The occupation lasted until November 23, 1914, and for that resistance Veracruz bore the title of "heroic" for the fourth time.

How to identify it

It is the classic 20-peso format, round and bimetallic, not one of the modern dodecagonal ones. It measures 32 mm and weighs 15.945 g: the core is cupronickel (comes out silvery) and the ring is aluminum bronze (comes out golden), with an interrupted reeded edge. That two-tone look is normal, not a defect. The obverse is the usual National Coat of Arms. The reverse is where the piece lives: the busts of Virgilio Uribe and José Azueta, the Naval Military School building below, silhouettes of the civilian defenders on the left, an anchor on the right as a nod to the Navy, and the legend "1914-2014." It exists only with the year 2014; there are no date or mint variants.

What it's worth

The headlines of "worth 800 thousand pesos" are clickbait trash: this piece went into normal circulation, it is not an error or a scarce issue. The real market range runs from 200 to 950 pesos depending on condition: circulated with marks, 200 to 400 pesos; in good condition or XF, 400 to 650; uncirculated with original shine, 650 to 950. It all comes down to the shine and to it having no scratches or spots. If they offer it to you in the thousands "because it's Navy-related," that's a hustler's price. To buy or sell at a fair price, use the store directory. It came out the same year as the Taking of Zacatecas, which stole all the spotlight, and that's why this one remains one of the accessible ones in the series.