The current administration has focused on bilateral cooperation for the restitution of cultural property, establishing agreements with the United States, China, Guatemala, Belize, Chile, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Switzerland, Italy and Saint Lucia, among others. The pieces were used as currency over 500 years ago (1200-1500 AD) by the ancient inhabitants of the current states of Michoacán and Guerrero.

The FBI said the collection was acquired at a numismatic fair in the 1960s by a US citizen in Texas, who decided to voluntarily hand it over to authorities more than 50 years later. At least one type was still being used in the mid-16th century when, in 1548, a Spanish Conquistador wrote about them, describing their use as money, and gave an exchange rate against the Spanish real. These may have been a kind of special-purpose money they would have had value only in some contexts, and could have perhaps bought commodities only during rituals or with certain communities (as opposed to. Ax-monies refer to bronze artifacts found in both western Mesoamerica and the northern Andes. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officially delivered the pieces to the consulate on December 30, 2019. Archaeologists call them axe monies because these plates of copper resemble axe heads. Money goes as follows: 1 pound (L) 20 shillings (s) 1 crown 5. Once in Mexico, the pieces will be studied by the INAH National Coordination for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The 'axe-money' is under the care of the Mexican consulate in Miami, pending its imminent return to Mexico. The pieces have been packed under the supervision of specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and with the assistance of Tara Tchadwick, curator of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. The Ministries of Culture and Foreign Relations have followed established standards for the handling and transportation of a set of approximately 3,900 copper hatchets that are more than five centuries old. This is one of the efforts made by the Ministry of Culture to recover Mexico's cultural heritage.The Mexican consulate in Miami is taking the last steps to return a set of pre-Hispanic pieces to Mexico.

Axe monies