The $20 notes

The $20 value was added in Dávila’s second authorisation, decree núm. 5, on 10 July 1915, which provided for 15,000 notes. Then decree núm. 18, on 12 January 1916, authorised a further issue, without specifying the exact amount of $20 notes.

Twenty pesos notes are quite a bit scarcer than the lower denominations. So far, I have not examined many and am unable to add much to what Eduardo Rosovsky reported in his 1974 article other than recording some serial numbers and treasury seal positions.

The underprint is gray or greenish gray. Most of the text and the Donaji seal are printed in gray-black or brown-black, while "Veinte Pesos", "20", and the Juárez portrait, etc. are in green. The series letter and signatures are black, and the serial number is red on notes numbered under 1-000000 and in green on those over. The notes are printed on cloth which Rosovsky identifies as being henequen or, possibly, agave, a native plant fiber. The back is printed directly on the cloth while the front is often printed on paper that was laminated to the cloth.

The treasury seal is either red or green. Positions are referred to by number as shown in the "map" for the 10 pesos credit bonds.

10 August 1915

3 September 1915

Supposedly a Series D exists for this date, but this has not been confirmed by the author or his consultants. It would have to be an extremely small printing.

24 September 1915

15 November 1915

The Very thick ledger paper has three different colored lines or double lines, including purple. These notes are very rare (and valuable) - so far, only four have been recorded (per Ken Tabachnick). Treasury seals come in various shades of red.