Mexico Recovers a 16th-Century Payment Order Stolen More Than Three Decades Ago

• The National Archives and the Foreign Ministry collaborated to recover a 16th-century document
• The document belongs to a group of folios taken from volume 362, folder 203 of the Hospital de Jesús collection

A nearly 500-year-old document of incalculable value has been recovered in the United States and returned to Mexico more than three decades after it was stolen.

On May 18, the National Archives (AGN) received a 16th-century payment order issued on February 20, 1527, which was delivered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to the Foreign Ministry.

The repatriated document was officially opened at the National Archives, with representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and the Foreign Ministry's Legal Counsel present.

Efforts to repatriate the document began in May 2022, when the AGN received information that it was being offered for sale by the Paul Fraser Collectibles auction house in the United States. By June of that year, Mexico and the AGN had submitted proof of ownership and filed a complaint with the Mexican Attorney General's Office.

In addition to the evidence and the expert opinions of AGN specialists, the document's description played a key role in confirming its provenance.

The process to return it to Mexico began in 2024, and by August 2025 the document was in the possession of the Mexican Embassy in the United States.

While this achievement is cause for celebration, it reflects a broader strategy: interagency coordination among Mexican authorities and bilateral cooperation with the United States were what made the return of this national heritage possible.

The document belongs to a group of folios bearing Hernán Cortés's signatures, taken from volume 362, folder 203 of the Hospital de Jesús collection.

The Archives' identification work continues. The recovery reaffirms that Mexico's documentary heritage is not for sale: it is protected, preserved, and honored as an essential part of our history.

The efforts of the Foreign Ministry and the AGN to repatriate this payment order to Mexico, and to identify it and return it to the archive's holdings, reinforce the commitment of the Mexican government to preserving the documents that chronicle its history and combating the illicit trafficking of cultural property.