Cuba 1998 50 pesos Fr-91
This specimen was lot 1241 in Sedwick Auction 36 (Winter Park, FL, November 2024), where it sold for $1,620. The catalog description[1] noted, "CUBA, Havana mint, gold colorized proof 50 pesos, 1998, Expo 2000 - Twipsy Cartoon Logo, NGC PF 66 Ultra Cameo. Flawless cameo except for a few bubbles in the mirror fields, innovative design with incuse parts of logo colorized in blue and red, reverse-frosted legend, single second finest in NGC census behind a single PF 68, from a reported mintage of 3125 pieces." Wikipedia comments, "Twipsy was the official Mascot of the Expo 2000 world's fair held in Hannover. The character was created by the Spanish designer Javier Mariscal. ...Twipsy could be acquired on the EXPO area on forms of merchandise, ranging from a stuffed plush toy, to apparel such as on T-shirts, mugs, watches and other souvenirs, in addition to those with the EXPO logo. Apart from that, stamps showing Twipsy were released, and full-sized versions of Twipsy were running around on the EXPO area and advertising for the EXPO in other countries." Like most lame mascots, Twipsy was soon forgotten. Other ten pesos for 1998 include KM 610, 611, 644, 645, 646, 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 668, 669, 670, 671, 751 and 945 plus colorized variants. Most were silver.
Recorded mintage: 3,125 proofs.
Specification: 15.55 g, 0.999 fine gold, 0.500 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: KM-654, Fr-91.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Sedwick, Daniel Frank, Augi Garcia, Cori Sedwick Downing, Connor Falk and Sarah Sproles, Treasure Auction 36, World, U.S Coins and Paper Money, featuring the Luis R. Ponte collection, the Jorge Becerra Collection and the John M. O'Brien collection, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2024.
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