8 Reales 1880 Hermosillo Silver 'Resplandor': Value Guide

If you inherited or found an 1880 8 Reales with a spiky sunburst on one side, here is the honest answer: in circulated condition it is worth roughly USD 20 to 40, mostly for its silver. Clean, high-grade examples from the Hermosillo mint climb into the low hundreds, and rare die varieties can go higher. Below is what actually drives the price.

This is a Mexican 8 Reales, the classic "piece of eight" size silver coin. The design collectors call Resplandor (Spanish for "radiance" or "sunburst") shows a Phrygian liberty cap over sun rays. It was struck in 1880 at the mint in Hermosillo, in the state of Sonora, during the era of the Restored Republic and the early Porfiriato.

What it's actually worth

Most of the value in this coin is metal. It weighs 27.07 grams in .900 fine silver, which means about 24.4 grams (0.784 troy ounces) of pure silver. That gives every genuine example a hard floor at melt value, no matter how worn it is.

On top of that floor, condition and mint variety decide the collector premium. Hermosillo (mintmark Ho) is a smaller branch mint, and its 8 Reales are less common than the big Mexico City or Zacatecas output, so a well-preserved Ho example carries a premium over the base silver price.

Grade / Condition	Approximate value (USD)
Heavily worn (Good to Fine)	20 to 35 (near melt)
Moderate wear (Very Fine)	35 to 70
Light wear (Extremely Fine)	70 to 150
Uncirculated (Mint State)	150 to 400+
Certified high grade or scarce assayer variety	400 and up

These are working ranges, not fixed prices. The exact number moves with the silver spot price on the day you sell, with the assayer initials on the coin, and with whether it has been cleaned (cleaning hurts value).

Coin specifications

• Denomination: 8 Reales
• Year: 1880
• Mint: Hermosillo (mintmark Ho)
• Metal: .900 silver (the coin's actual working fineness is often cited as .9028)
• Weight: 27.07 grams
• Diameter: 39 mm
• Edge: reeded
• Obverse: Phrygian liberty cap over sun rays (the Resplandor) with the word "LIBERTAD"
• Reverse: Mexican eagle facing forward, eating a serpent, standing on a cactus, with "REPUBLICA MEXICANA"

The 8 Reales was Mexico's standard silver dollar-sized coin until the monetary reform of 1905 ended the eight-real system.

How to check what yours is worth

1. Confirm it's silver. Weigh it on a jewelry scale (should be close to 27.07 grams) and measure it (39 mm). A genuine piece will match. Silver has a distinct high, ringing tone when tapped, unlike a base-metal fake.

2. Read the mintmark and assayer. Look for Ho for Hermosillo. Small letters near the denomination are the assayer initials, and certain assayer and date combinations are scarcer than others. This detail can change the value more than overall wear does.

3. Grade it honestly. The difference between a worn example (near melt) and an Uncirculated one (several hundred dollars) is large. Use our coin grading guide to place yours. Do not clean it: a scrubbed coin loses collector value and drops toward melt.

4. Watch for fakes. Silver 8 Reales are heavily counterfeited because of their bullion content and collector demand. Reproductions often miss the weight, have soft or wrong engraving, or a mushy sunburst. Be suspicious of any "deal" priced below the metal value.

Where to sell it

For the fairest price, take it to a verified dealer from the Pesoteca shop directory, who can weigh it and value it on the spot, or list it in the Pesoteca buy-and-sell forum among collectors. Because this is a precious-metal coin, only deal with someone who lets you see and weigh the piece before money changes hands. Photograph the obverse, reverse, and edge, and check the ranges above before you accept an offer. Skip dumping it to the first bidder on social media.

This coin belongs to the Republic-era 8 Reales silver series. If you have several, sort them by date and mint before selling: some combinations are worth well over melt, and it pays to know which is which.

Got one and not sure of the grade or the mint variety? Post clear photos of both sides and the edge in the Pesoteca forum and let collectors help you pin down what it's really worth.

In 1880, Porfirio Díaz governed in his first presidential term. Consolidation of the Porfirian order with emphasis on pacification, railroads, and foreign capital.

The Hermosillo mint (Ho) was set up in 1835 to handle Sonora's silver without depending on Álamos. It closed in 1895 with the centralizing reform of the Porfiriato.

Ho pieces have low mintages compared to Mexico or Zacatecas. Late years (1893-1895) are harder to find in good grade.

As a catalog reference, this mint's variant is listed as KM#377.9 in Krause. The piece is silver of .9028 fineness with a reeded edge and a theoretical weight of 27.07 grams. The 1880 Hermosillo, Sonora example corresponds to the mature stage of the mint, near its closure (1835-1895), and is identified on the coin by the Ho mint mark.

In the Mexican numismatic market, the Ho-1880 radiant peso appears regularly at auction and at the tianguis of the center. When hunting for it, it is worth verifying a clean reeded edge, without trims, and that the Ho mint mark is crisp. Before paying a broker's markup, consult the reference range by grade in public catalogs and on the Pesoteca forum; many examples from this decade (1880s) can be had at par price without the need for speculative middlemen.