World Tokens

Cuba, Cuban Revolutionary Party, Souvenir Peso, 1897, type II, star below 97 baseline, rev. planed and engraved (The Celebrated 400, Nov. 9, 1900), 36mm, 20.58g (cf. KM. M2). Minor scuffing, otherwise about extremely fine, interesting £100-150

Provenance: W. Tankersley Collection, Baldwin Auction 18, 12-13 October 1998, lot 238.

It has been suggested the coin was given out at a Cuban benefit in New York. The ‘Celebrated 400’ is a term that can be dated back to the annual ball given by Mrs William Astor, which in 1892 the host wished to limit to 400 guests, as that was as many as her ballroom would accommodate. For many decades hence the term referred to the social elite of New York. Further detail is sold with the lot