5 Pesos Silver 1948

This is the "Cuauhtemoc": the silver 5 pesos coin that Mexico struck only in 1947 and 1948. The reverse shows the bust of Cuauhtemoc, the last Mexica tlatoani (Aztec ruler), in profile with his headdress, surrounded by the legends CINCO PESOS, 30 GRAMOS, LEY 0.900, the Mo mint mark, and the year. The obverse carries the National Coat of Arms. It weighs 30 grams at 0.900 fineness, meaning about 27 grams of fine silver (0.868 troy ounce), in a large 40 mm module with a reeded edge.

When it comes to rarity, let's be honest: the 1948 is not scarce. A total of 26,740,000 pieces were struck, more than five times the 1947 mintage (5,110,000). It is the common one of the two, so its price is driven by silver more than by scarcity.

With silver running between 1,400 and 1,700 pesos per troy ounce in 2026, the intrinsic silver value of your piece is around 1,200 to 1,500 pesos. On the open market (MercadoLibre, physical shops) circulated examples move near 950 to 1,300 pesos, and in nice grade or uncirculated they go past 1,600. The grade, and whether it has been cleaned with an abrasive, are what decide the final number.

If you want to buy or sell it without being taken advantage of, check the directory of Pesoteca shops. To place it in its period, it belongs to the modern era before 1992, when the peso still carried real silver.

Circulating Mexican peso coins from the second half of the 20th century were struck in alloys that changed with the cost of metals and inflationary processes: .720 silver in the $1, $5, $10, $25 denominations during the 1940s-50s; cupronickel from the 1970s; aluminum bronze and stainless steel in the 1980s; pieces with historical figures (Hidalgo, Cuauhtemoc, Juarez, Madero) in the late 1980s just before the transition to Nuevos Pesos in 1992. 1948 corresponds to the period when this variant was in circulation.