Mexico, 1951 AD., Mexico City mint, 50 Centavos, KM 449.

Mexico, Mexico City mint, 1951 AD.,
50 Centavos (ø 26 mm / 6,60 g), 0.300 silver, 6.66 g theor. mint weight, mintage 3.650.000 , raxis coin alignment ↑↓ (180°), eeded edge,
Obv.: ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS , Mexican coat of arms, legend at top, supported by wreath.
Rev.: 1951 – Mo / 50/cs , King Cuauhtemoc facing right looking at a descending eagle (his namesake) surrounded by date, value, and mint mark.
KM 449 .

Year / Mint Mark / Mintage
1950 Mo 13,570,000
1951 Mo 3.650.000

Cuauhtémoc - el nombre del último emperador azteca, viene del náhuatl “cuauhtli”, que significa “águila”; y “témoc”, traducido por “que cae”… águila que cae.

Cuauhtémoc (also known as Cuauhtemotzin, Guatimozin or Guatemoc; c. 1502– 28 February 1525) was the Aztec ruler (tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521. The name Cuāuhtemōc means "One That Has Descended Like an Eagle", commonly rendered in English as "Falling Eagle," as in the moment when an eagle folds its wings and plummets down in order to strike its prey, so this is a name that implies aggressiveness or bravery, not the defeat or death of the eagle as might be supposed. Cuauhtémoc took power in 1520 as successor of Cuitláhuac and was a nephew of the emperor Moctezuma II, and his young wife was one of Moctezuma's daughters. He ascended to the throne when he was 18 years of age, as his city was being besieged by the Spanish and devastated by an epidemic of smallpox brought to the New World by Spanish Invaders. Probably after the killings in the main temple, there were few Aztec captains available to take the position. In 1525, Cortés took Cuauhtémoc and several other indigenous nobles on his expedition to Honduras, fearing that Cuauhtémoc could have led an insurrection in his absence. While the expedition was stopped in the Chontal Maya capital of Itzamkanac, known as Acalan in Nahuatl, Cortés had Cuauhtémoc executed for allegedly conspiring to kill him and the other Spaniards.

The obverse refers to the legend of Tenochtitlan - how Mexico City was founded: As the Mexica, a small Mid-Mexican tribe were chased from their grounds, they had to look for new space. Their most important god, Huitzilopochtli, told the tribe they must build their new town on the place where they should find an eagle on a cactus, eating a snake. They found the place in the marshes of Lake Texcoco. The Mexica became the Aztecs and Tenochtitlan turned into Mexico City.