Mexican 10 Pesos Coin (2010): Real Value

If you inherited or found a 2010 Mexican 10 pesos coin (the bimetallic one with the Aztec sun stone in the center), the honest answer is short: it's worth about its face value, roughly 1 US dollar or a little more in good condition. Mexico struck around 54.8 million of them at the Mexico City mint in 2010 alone. It is not rare, and it is not silver.

The listings you see online asking for hundreds or thousands of dollars are what sellers hope to get, not what these coins actually sell for. A common circulating coin from 2026 does not command a premium just because it's a few years old.

What this coin actually is

This is the standard circulating 10 pesos coin, the same design Mexico has minted since 1997. It is bimetallic: a center disc of one color set inside a ring of another color.

• Center: alpaca, an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc (silver in color but contains no silver)
• Ring: aluminum bronze, an alloy of copper, aluminum and nickel (gold in color but contains no gold)
• Weight: 10.328 grams
• Diameter: 28 millimeters
• Edge: reeded (grooved)

Because it holds no precious metal, it has no melt value. Its worth is tied entirely to face value and, for a perfect example, a small collector premium.

The designs

The reverse (the "tails" side) shows the center disc of the Piedra del Sol, the Aztec sun stone, featuring the fire mask of Tonatiuh, the Aztec sun god. The outer ring carries the value "10," the year 2010, the mint mark Mo (for Mexico City), and the legend DIEZ PESOS.

The obverse (the "heads" side) shows the Mexican national coat of arms, the eagle on a cactus with a serpent, and the legend ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS.

What is it worth?

Coin	Year	Mintage (Mo)	Typical value
10 Pesos bimetallic	2010	~54.8 million	Face value, about 1 USD
Same, uncirculated (mint state)	2010	~54.8 million	2 to 5 USD to a collector
Confirmed mint error	2010	rare	Varies, needs expert appraisal

At Mexican coin shops, a common example in good shape trades for the equivalent of about 10 to 20 pesos (roughly 1 US dollar). A crisp uncirculated piece might bring a couple of dollars more from a collector building a date set. That's the ceiling for a normal coin.

The Bicentennial myth

Here's where people get their hopes up. 2010 was the Bicentennial of Mexican Independence, so many assume any 2010 coin is a special commemorative. It isn't. The Bicentennial commemorative coins were struck as 5 pesos and 2 pesos pieces, not this 10 pesos. This one is the ordinary circulating coin with the sun stone, identical in design to the ones minted every other year.

When a 2010 could actually be worth more

One scenario adds real value: a genuine mint error. Examples include a misaligned (off-center) center disc, a double strike, or a smooth edge where reeding should be. These are worth money only when a specialist confirms the error is real and not post-mint damage. A normal coin pulled from circulation is worth face value, full stop. Do not assume a scratch or a discolored spot is a valuable error.

How to tell if yours is genuine

Check the specs against the real ones:

1. Weight: 10.328 grams
2. Diameter: 28 millimeters
3. Edge: reeded (grooved), not smooth
4. Two metals: center and ring must be distinctly different colors
5. Reverse: the sun stone with Tonatiuh's fire mask, plus the Mo mint mark and year 2010 on the ring

If anything is off, have it looked at by a specialist.

Where to sell or buy one

Because this is a common coin, the right venue is a coin shop or numismatic dealer, where you'll get its real value rather than the inflated asking prices you see on marketplace listings. It's an easy, cheap coin to start a Mexican circulating-coin collection with.

You can compare the other years in the 10 pesos bimetallic series, learn what actually drives coin value in our guide to Mexican coin values, or find a dealer in the Pesoteca shop directory.

Have a 2010 you think might be an error, or a box of Mexican coins you're trying to sort out? Post clear photos of both sides in the Pesoteca forum and we'll help you tell the common from the collectible.

When Banxico dropped the N$ prefix from the peso starting in 1996, circulating pieces kept the same physical format as their Nuevos Pesos equivalents from the decree of June 22, 1992. This bimetallic 10-peso coin struck in 2010 is part of that continuity: same technical specifications, same base design with the National Coat of Arms on the obverse, only the face value visible on the reverse changed. That is why, when gathering dates, you see long sequences with very little variation.

For the Mexican collector building a collection by year, these pieces are the ones that fill the basic gaps before hunting the rare commemorative versions. Banxico documents mintages in its Monetary Circular CM10 since the year 2000, so for 2010 it is possible to verify the exact mintage against that source. Pesoteca catalogs each year as a distinct physical piece in the PSM System family C, following our convention of one ID per collectible piece, not per shared design.