Cuba Material collection · Colección Cuba Material
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Beer coaster with manuscript annotation by Cuban technicians, Czechoslovakia
Object/Artifact
Round pulpboard beer coaster (beermat). The front carries a printed border ring of foaming beer mugs/steins in yellow and black around a blank cream field marked at center with a small red asterisk/florette. The back bears a manuscript inscription in blue ballpoint, dated "23/12/85," reading "Hoy nos reunimos cinco buenos compañeros: [first name uncertain], Leo, Paco, Martha y Lastra, así:" ("Today five good companions gathered: …, like this:"), followed by five ink signatures. Both faces are toned and foxed. Two other similar coasters in the collection, without script.
2025.1.286
Belonged to Leopoldo Arús Caraballo, one of the five.
A Czechoslovak beer coaster kept as a personal memento. On 23 December 1985, five Cuban colleagues gathered abroad and signed the coaster as a keepsake of the reunion, naming themselves (first name uncertain), Leo, Paco, Martha, and Lastra. The piece documents the everyday sociability and bloc mobility of Cuban workers/technicians in Eastern Europe, and is itself a specimen of Czechoslovak pub material culture.
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Leopoldo Arús Caraballo collection
2025.1
circa 1985
1980s
Czechoslovakia
Eastern Europe
Europe
Coaster: Czechoslovak printer/brewery, unidentified (no brand or printer text visible). Annotation: by the five Cuban signatories, hand-dated 23 December 1985. Date: coaster printed by/before December 1985; manuscript dated 23/12/1985.
Note
Back of coaster
Hoy nos reuni-mos cinco buenos compáneros: Layleyne, Leo, Paco, Martha Y., Lastra, así: (signatures)
Spanish
today we meet five good companions: layne, leo, paco, martha y., Lastra, like this: (signatures)
Pen
Dated December 23, 1985
10.5 cm
Cardboard
Pressed wood-pulp coaster board; printed inks (front); blue ballpoint ink (back).
Good
Leopoldo Arús Caraballo
Owner
Czechoslovakia
Eastern Europe
Europe
Production, acquisition
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
Ownership
Czechoslovakia
Eastern Europe
Europe
production