Mexico Chihuahua P-S537 20 Pesos 1915 VF+ Very Fine Plus

The 20 Pesos companion to the iconic "Dos Caritas" series — same two martyred heroes, same Government Palace reverse, same Norris Peters craftsmanship, but in the larger denomination that circulated most widely across Chihuahua in 1915.

Front

• Colors: black and orange print; red serial numbers
• Portrait of Francisco I. Madero at left
• Portrait of Abraham González Casavantes at right
• Lettering: EL ESTADO DE CHIHUAHUA / PAGARA AL PORTADOR, EN EFECTIVO / VEINTE PESOS, / CONFORME AL DECRETO MILITAR / DE FECHA 10 DE FEBRERO DE 1914 / CHIHUAHUA, CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO. / VEINTE PESOS
• Translation: The State of Chihuahua will pay to the bearer in cash Twenty Pesos according to the military decree dated 10 February 1914

Back

• Colors: orange print; black control letters; black seal
• Exterior view of the Government Palace in Chihuahua city at center
• Two griffons flanking the palace

Other Characteristics

• Varieties:
  • P-S537a — Norris Peters; 1–6000000; black scalloped seal; without date; horizontal orientation
  • P-S537a — Norris Peters; 1–6000000; black scalloped seal; without date; vertical orientation
  • P-S537b — Norris Peters; 1–6000000; black scalloped seal; with date; horizontal orientation — this note
  • P-S537c — Norris Peters; 1–6000000; no overprint on reverse
  • P-S537d — Black treasury seal with ondulated margin on blank back
  • P-S537e — Black circular treasury seal on back
  • P-S537f — Norris Peters; 1–6000000; black scalloped seal; with date; vertical orientation
• Catalog numbers: P-S537b; Numista N#215948
• Watermark: None noted
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 185 × 78 mm
• Issuing entity: State of Chihuahua
• Printer: Norris Peters Co., Washington, D.C.
• Demonetized: Yes
• Currency: Peso (1913–1915)
• Official language(s): Spanish

The Mexican Revolution — What Was Actually Happening

• The dictatorship that made it inevitable: Porfirio Díaz ruled Mexico for 35 years (1876–1911). He modernized the railroads and invited foreign investment — but 1% of the population owned 97% of the land. Millions of indigenous and mestizo farmers were effectively serfs on haciendas they could never leave.
• The spark: In 1908, Díaz told an American journalist he would welcome opposition and step down. He didn't mean it — but Francisco Madero took him at his word, ran for president in 1910, was arrested, escaped to Texas, and called for revolution on November 20, 1910 — still celebrated as Revolution Day in Mexico.
• Díaz falls faster than anyone expected: Within six months, guerrilla armies had risen across the country. Díaz resigned in May 1911 and sailed to Paris, where he died in exile in 1915 — the same year this note was printed.
• Madero's fatal flaw: He won the presidency in a landslide but governed too moderately — keeping Díaz's old generals in place, alienating Emiliano Zapata in the south and Pancho Villa in the north. In February 1913, his own general Victoriano Huerta — with the tacit approval of the U.S. ambassador — staged a coup. Madero was arrested and shot "while trying to escape." He was 39.
• The División del Norte: Huerta's coup united the revolutionaries against him. Pancho Villa assembled the División del Norte — the largest revolutionary army in Mexican history, eventually 40,000 strong — and swept south from Chihuahua. This note was issued under that army's authority.
• The currency chaos: During 1913–1915, at least a dozen factions issued their own paper money. Merchants sometimes refused all of it. Villa's Chihuahua notes were among the more trusted issues because he controlled the state's cattle and silver mines — real backing, at least for a while.
• The turning point: In April 1915, Villa's army was destroyed at the Battle of Celaya by Álvaro Obregón, who used barbed wire and machine guns — tactics borrowed from the Western Front, which was raging simultaneously in Europe. Villa never recovered as a conventional military force.
• The death toll: Estimates range from 500,000 to 2 million dead between 1910 and 1920 — out of a population of only 15 million. Entire regions were depopulated. The 1921 census showed Mexico had fewer people than in 1910.

What Americans Saw — and Why They Loved Pancho Villa

In 1914, Pancho Villa was a genuine American celebrity — and not by accident. He was charismatic, quotable, and strategically brilliant at managing his image north of the border. American newspapers sent correspondents to ride with him. The New York Times, Harper's Weekly, and Collier's ran breathless dispatches. John Reed — the same journalist who would later write Ten Days That Shook the World about the Russian Revolution — embedded with Villa in 1913–1914 and wrote Insurgent Mexico, portraying him as a romantic outlaw-hero fighting for the poor.

In January 1914, Villa signed an exclusive contract with the Mutual Film Corporation for $25,000 to allow cameras to film his battles — and agreed to reschedule or re-stage fights for better light. The resulting film, The Life of General Villa, played in American theaters while this note was being printed. He was the first person to sign a movie deal while actively fighting a war.

Americans admired Villa for several reasons that feel almost quaint in retrospect: he seemed to be fighting the same kind of revolution Americans had fought in 1776 — against a corrupt oligarchy, for land and liberty. He was also seen as pro-American: he bought arms in Texas, paid in gold, and was careful (at first) not to harm American citizens or property. The Wilson administration briefly considered backing him as Mexico's next leader.

The admiration collapsed spectacularly in March 1916, when Villa — furious at U.S. recognition of his rival Carranza — raided Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans. General John "Black Jack" Pershing led a punitive expedition of 10,000 troops 300 miles into Mexico and never caught him. Villa became a villain overnight in the American press — the same press that had made him a hero two years earlier.

Two Martyrs on One Note

Francisco I. Madero (1873–1913) was a wealthy landowner and the initial victor of the Mexican Revolution, having overthrown Porfirio Díaz — who had ruled Mexico for over 30 years. After winning elections in 1911, he politically isolated himself and was usurped and murdered by one of his own generals, Victoriano Huerta. Today he is remembered as a martyr for the state.

Abraham González (1864–1913) was a wealthy landowner, early supporter of Madero, and a mentor to Francisco "Pancho" Villa. When Madero was triumphant in 1911, González was elected governor of Chihuahua. After Huerta's coup in 1913, he was arrested and murdered — just weeks before Madero himself.

The fact that both men appear together on this note — issued by the very state González governed, under the military authority of the División del Norte — makes it a rare dual-portrait memorial from the heat of the revolution itself.

Printed in Washington, Spent in the Desert

The Norris Peters Co. of Washington, D.C. was one of the premier security printers of the era, producing notes for governments across the Americas. That this revolutionary state government — operating in the chaos of civil war — commissioned a professional American printer speaks to the ambition and legitimacy the División del Norte sought to project. The black and orange obverse with red serial numbers and the orange reverse with the Government Palace of Chihuahua flanked by griffons are crisp, formal, and authoritative.

The "Dos Caritas" Series

Collectors know this issue affectionately as Dos Caritas — "Two Little Faces" — for the dual portraits. Six varieties are known for the 20 Pesos, distinguished by seal type, seal orientation, and whether a date overprint appears. The S537b with date and horizontal black scalloped seal (this note) is by far the most common, held by 75% of Numista users who own this type.

Own this note and hold a piece of the Mexican Revolution — a dual portrait of two men who gave their lives for a cause, printed in Washington and spent in the Chihuahuan desert, in the same months that Pancho Villa was a movie star in American theaters.