Sombrerete Medal (1791)

Struck in 1791, this medal commemorates the proclamation of Carlos IV in Sombrerete, a famous mining town of Nueva Vizcaya (present-day Zacatecas). Although the king ascended in 1788, the oath-taking reached the northern mining towns over the following years, up to 1791.

Sombrerete lived a legendary boom thanks to the Veta Negra, one of the most spectacular silver bonanzas of the viceroyalty, which made the fortune of the Fagoaga family. The wealth of its mines gave the community more than enough resources to join the royal ceremonies in style.

That a relatively small mining town struck its own proclamation medal illustrates once again the symbolic power of silver in the viceroyalty: those who extracted it from the ground demonstrated their loyalty to the king whose Crown they sustained with that very metal. These pieces are testimony to the mining prosperity of the New Spanish north.

The Sombrerete medal of 1791 is a silver piece struck in viceregal Mexico to commemorate the mining town of Sombrerete, one of the most prosperous mining camps of New Spain. Its small size and its age make it an object highly prized by those who collect colonial proclamation pieces and medals.

Struck in silver, it measures 31 millimeters in diameter and weighs 13.56 grams. As a precious-metal piece, its value has a floor set by its silver content, but what truly drives it up is condition, how old the issue is, and historical interest in the subject it commemorates. A piece with no wear, with natural patina and its original case, is worth considerably more than one that has been handled or aggressively cleaned.

To value it, it helps to confirm the metal and weigh it to estimate its fine-silver content, read carefully the legend and the motif dedicated to Sombrerete, check that it has no scratches or recent cleaning, and look for the case and the certificate if it ever had them, since they add collector value. You can explore more pieces in the Mexican numismatics catalog and learn to read the marks in the guide on how to identify Mexican mints. Its catalog reference is Grove, Medals of México, I #C-222.