Mexico 5 Pesos banknote 7.3.1934 Banco De Mexico, Gypsy Girl "La Gitana"
Reverse: Angel of Independence, Mexico City
Printed by American Bank Note Company, ABNC, New York.
Size : 180 x 83 mm - printed from september 1, 1925 to march 7, 1934
The Angel of Independence (Spanish: El Ángel de la Independencia), most commonly known by the shortened name El Ángel and officially known as Monumento a la Independencia, is a victory column on a roundabout over Paseo de la Reforma in downtown Mexico City.
El Ángel was built in 1910 to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence. In later years it was made into a mausoleum for the most important heroes of that war. It is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Mexico City, and it has become a focal point for both celebration or protest. It resembles the July Column in Paris and the Berlin Victory Column in Berlin.
Gypsy Girl "La Gitana"
Immediately following the issue of the "5 pesos" banknotes, rumour spread as to the identity of the woman portrayed in the vignette, although initially she was referred to as the gitana, or ‘gypsy’. While the identity of the ‘gypsy’ was never officially disclosed, it was not long before the lady was determined to be Gloria Faure.Gloria Faure and her sister Laura were two Catalonian ‘artistes’ who were performing in Mexico around 1925. The ladies were reported to have shared their favours with a number of influential men in Mexico and Gloria was said to be the mistress of Alberto J. Pani, the Minister of Finance in the Mexican Government. Pani was known for his philandering and speculation asserted that it was his mistress who had posed for the portrait of the gypsy.
Pani’s philandering had followed him to New York in 1925, where he was negotiating a financial deal with the Americans on behalf of the Mexican Government. While in New York he was accused of keeping women in conditions that were contrary to the ‘Mann Act’, or the ‘White Slavery’ act. His hotel was searched but no charges laid. However, the scandal had broken and the woman who was supposedly accompanying Pani was Gloria Faure. Pani offered to resign, but President Plutarco Elías Calles refused his resignation, having told his Deputies that he did not want a Cabinet of eunuchs.
President Calles’ support for Pani was possibly due to his similar penchant for the fairer sex. Indeed, Calles was suspected of having accepted favours from Gloria Faure himself. This brought accusations that the appearance of Gloria Faure’s portrait on the banknotes had been orchestrated through the efforts of the President himself and not through the intervention of the Finance Minister. However, no matter who was responsible, it became certain that Gloria Faure had posed as the ‘gypsy’.
Truth, of course, is not nearly so exciting as fiction. In 1976 the head of the Numismatic Museum at the Banco de Mexico, Professor Guadelupe Monroy, wrote to the American Banknote Company, asking for details on the portrait that appeared on the Mexican 5-peso notes. The reply indicated that the original engraving was created by Mr. Robert Savage as a stock vignette and was titled ‘The Ideal Head of an Algerian Girl’. More importantly, the portrait was engraved in 1910, fifteen years before the 5-peso notes were issued and long before the era of Gloria Faure’s great popularity. Despite the efforts of Professor Monroy in seeking the truth, the legend of Gloria Faure lives on, with many dealers’ lists and catalogues continuing to identify the portrait as that of the Catalonian artiste.