When mining first begin in Real de Catorce, the Catorceños needed a way to pay the laborers who mined the ore from the mountains. Rather than extracting the silver, the raw ore from the mines was shipped out of Real de Catorce to be refined. The silver would be extracted in other cities in Mexico and minted into coins which were then shipped back to Real de Catorce. There was great fear in having coins minted elsewhere shipped to the remote mountain village as to do so would certainly draw the attention of bandits always on the lookout for precious metal and other riches.

Finally, out of fear the Catorceños began minted their own coins, sometimes doing so legally and at other times not. The first coins where small cuartillas of copper, which while of little value, were necessary as a way to pay the laborers and allow them to make purchases in town. While there are a few examples of these coins in existence, you should be very careful about making purchases of such coins as there are many counterfeit coins for sale, not only in Real de Catorce, but throughout the world.

In 1808, with the construction of the Shrine of the Cathedral of Guadalajara the rich mine owners responded with great generosity by coining currencies in order to give to the construction. This was the first currency of Real de Catorce.

Later, between December 20 and 25 of 1810, the second currency was coined by Don Mariano Jiménez. These were the silver 8 reales pieces that today are very rare and quite valuable. They were minted with the date 1811 as they were not to be distributed until the beginning of the year.

The coins were distributed in Real de Catorce under the jurisdiction of the Real de Catorce Mining Delegation for a brief time. Although the minting of the coins was not controlled and each coin is unique there are tests that must be performed to authenticate the age of the coins.

The silver 8 reales of 1811 are the rarest and most famous of all coins minted in Real de Catorce. Although are very appreciated by numismatists, there are only a few coins known to be in existence and are presently valued at over $50,000USD dollars each.

Captain Teodoro Parrodi begin minting, in a legal way, cuartillas of copper in 1815. One was a local currency that had no legal value outside of Real de Catorce. The production was stopped abruptly when it was found that the coins could be easily duplicated.

In 1822, the Catorceños attempted once more to mint cuartillas of copper called "Bottoms Public" in a legal manner but these two met also with the same ultimate fate. And again in 1863, pieces of 2, 4 and 8 reales were minted in various factories in Real de Catorce.

It was at this point that Don Santos of Maza realized the problem of having little control over the production of silver coins in Real de Catorce and decided to open an official mint within Real de Catorce. He purchased the land in the front of the Parish Church in order to construct the Casa de Moneda or House of Currency. Don Santos was commited to building a most austere building with a beautiful facade. The Case de Moneda begin minting legal coins in January of 1865, but was ordered closed by Emperior Maximiliano, in the fear that bandits would overpower the mint. The Casa de Moneda produced 1.5 million coins during its short life. Only a few are known to exist today.

Today, the Casa de Moneda is being restored by the local muncipal goverment and the State of San Luis Potosi. It will be converted to use as classrooms and studios for local artisians.

The Casa de la Moneda is said to be haunted by the ghost of Don de la Maza, who is seen moving about and counting his silver reales.