1978 Mexico 10000 Pesos Banco de Mexico PMG 66 EPQ P-72 Matias Romero ABNC Hyperinflation Era

1978 Mexico 10000 Pesos Banco de Mexico PMG 66 EPQ P-72 Matias Romero ABNC Hyperinflation Era

This impressive note is the 10,000 pesos issue from El Banco de México S.A., dated 18 de enero de 1978 and cataloged as Pick 72 / M4644. Printed by the prestigious American Bank Note Company (ABNC), it carries red serial number E0210127 and is authenticated and encapsulated by PMG, ensuring its authenticity and long-term preservation.

Historical significance

By the late 1970s, Mexico was grappling with accelerating inflation and currency depreciation. High-denomination notes like this diez mil pesos were introduced to keep up with rising prices, foreshadowing the severe inflation that eventually led to the 1993 currency reform and the creation of the “nuevo peso,” which removed three zeros from the old peso.

The portrait at left is Matías Romero Avendaño, a key 19th-century Mexican diplomat and statesman who served as Minister of Finance and as Mexico’s long-time envoy to the United States during the Reform era and the French Intervention. His presence on such a large denomination links the modern economic struggles of the 1970s back to the earlier efforts to stabilize and modernize Mexico’s finances in the 1800s.

Design and features

Obverse

• Dominant purple tones over a multicolor underprint, typical of ABNC’s refined intaglio work.

• Oval engraved bust of Matías Romero at left, with meticulous detail in the beard, hair, and period suit.

• Large ornate value cartouches at each corner with “10,000”, plus a central framed panel carrying the numeral 10,000 and the legend “DIEZ MIL PESOS”.

• Repeated micro-text 10,000 in the top border and complex guilloché patterns around the central medallion, serving as both decoration and security.

• Full issuing legend “EL BANCO DE MEXICO S.A.”, date line, series and block letters, and facsimile signatures along the lower border.

Reverse

• Printed in rich green, featuring a panoramic view of the Palacio Nacional (National Palace) overlooking the Zócalo, Mexico City’s main square.

• Large value panels with 10,000 at left and right, plus the text “DIEZ MIL PESOS” above and “BANCO DE MEXICO” below.

• Elaborate scrollwork and shaded lathework frames the building, highlighting ABNC’s late-classic engraving style.

The note measures approximately 157 × 67 mm, a broad format that gives the design real presence in hand or in a display.

Remarkable denomination

At 10,000 pesos, this was one of the largest regular-issue denominations of its day. It represented a significant sum in nominal terms, yet inflation was rapidly eroding its real purchasing power. When Mexico re-denominated its currency in 1993, this note effectively became worth just 10 nuevos pesos, making it a textbook example of how high-value notes emerge in inflationary periods and later become historical artifacts of economic turbulence.

Catalog and reference

• Country: Mexico

• Issuer: Banco de México

• Date: 18 January 1978

• Denomination: 10,000 Pesos (Diez Mil Pesos)

• Portrait: Matías Romero Avendaño

• Reverse: National Palace and Zócalo, Mexico City

• Catalog: Pick 72, M4644

• Printer: American Bank Note Company (ABNC)

Collector’s value

For collectors of Mexican or hyperinflation-era paper money, this 1978 10,000 pesos note offers a potent mix of eye-appeal and economic history: a huge face value, a beautifully engraved ABNC design, and a direct link to the inflationary spiral that led to Mexico’s major currency reform. The combination of a classic diplomat portrait, the iconic National Palace vignette, and secure third-party certification makes it an outstanding showpiece for any Latin American, world-type, or monetary-history themed collection.