Originally Posted by
JimC
Nah.. I don't know, I guess if you've read the bank's webpage, that helps a lot. Just remember that the 20 & 50 bills are the same size, and they are the plastic kind like the Australian/NZ currency. You'll sometimes run into older paper 20s and 50s.
The 100, 200, and 500 bills are also the same size, but larger than the 20 & 50, and they are still paper bills, strangely enough. Anything dated before 1993 is invalid. Anything that says "Nuevo Peso" 1993 or later is technically legal, but no shopkeeper in their right mind would accept it. So stick to currency 1996 and later. Most bills (except the 20 I think) have a watermark
For the coins, you'll only see the 10, 5, 2, and 1 pesos, and 50 centavos. It's somewhat common still to find coins marked with N$ for the nuevo peso. Probably since coins last so long. Wise to avoid these too, but they're unlikely to be noticed in fast transactions, probably another reason why they stick around.
Coins in N$ should pose no problems, at least they don't in Mexico City - they ARE legal tender. Also, keep in mind that $1 is not very much in USD...
I haven't seen old bills in circulation since the switch in the early 90's - but nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to be cautious. Old $ bills had denominations that were an order of magnitude higher, ie, $10'000, $20'000, etc. Doubt very much that you'll see one unless you're at a coin collector's.
There was a recent re-fresh of the $50 bill - you'll find both paper and plastic notes. Both legal tender. The Banco de Mexico has not switched the higher denominations to plastic, so paper is all there is.
Don't think that it is particularly lucrative for counterfeiters to produce fake $ notes....
(Note that I'm using $, the
peso sign, that later was adopted by the dollar as well
)