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Beer Coaster, "U sv. Tomáše" (Prague), Reused as a Notepad
Object/Artifact
Round pressed wood-pulp beer coaster, printed on the recto and densely hand-annotated on the verso. The recto (Image 1) shows a woodcut-style emblem: a bishop-saint in mitre with halo, holding a crosier and raising the right hand in blessing, framed by church spires, set in a yellow square over a green semicircular ground; below, in black blackletter, "u sv. / Tomáše" ("At St. Thomas's"), flanked by yellow lozenge ornaments. The verso (Image 2) is covered edge to edge in dark-blue ballpoint: lists, arrows, boxes, circled acronyms, heavy strike-throughs and overdrawing, in Spanish. Prominent legible elements include "NUEVITAS" (ringed, with inward arrows from both sides), a bracketed list ("AMPLIFICADOR," "ATRAVESADO," "INTERMEDIARIO COMERCIAL," "SUM. PLANTAS," "RECURSOS PROPIOS," "OBVIO," each with an arrow), recurring acronyms "UEG" (circled, "UEG → EI"), "EI," and "KW," a boxed "EI – REG – NUEVITAS," and a small "1–0 / 2" switch-like diagram at right. Much of the verso is illegible from over-writing. Diameter not measurable without a scale (standard mats ~9–10.5 cm). Five other identical items without inscription.
2025.1.321
Belonged to Leopoldo Arús Caraballo.
A piece of Prague hospitality ephemera repurposed in Cuban working life — the kind of secondary use the collection documents. "U sv. Tomáše" in Malá Strana, Prague, is the city's oldest beer hall, on the site of the Augustinian monastery of St. Thomas where brewing began in 1352; the emblem depicts its patron saint. The verso notes are Cuban: written in Spanish, they center on Nuevitas (a port and major industrial city — thermoelectric plant, cement, fertilizer — in Camagüey province) and use the vocabulary of socialist enterprise organization ("intermediario comercial," "recursos propios," "suministro [a] plantas," and the acronyms UEG/EI). The place of annotation is not established.
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Leopoldo Arús Caraballo collection
2025.1
U Sv. Tomáše
Prague
Czechoslovakia
Eastern Europe
Europe
Recto (printed coaster): issued for the beer hall "U sv. Tomáše," Letenská, Malá Strana, Prague, Czechoslovakia. Printer/designer not identified. Verso (manuscript): unidentified Cuban author (probably Leopoldo Arús Caraballo); Spanish-language working notes. Date: coaster circa 1950s–1980s (tentative; the pub operated throughout the socialist period). Secondary-use notes undatable. Place: printed for a Prague establishment, Czechoslovakia; annotated by a Cuban hand (location of annotation unknown).
U Sv Tomáše
Czech
At St. Thomas
Recto, printed (Czech): "u sv. Tomáše" [At St. Thomas's]; bishop-saint emblem with crosier and church spires; lozenge ornaments. No printer's mark visible.
Verso, manuscript (Spanish ballpoint), legible portions: "1.- ASE…" (overwritten; tentative); "NUEVITAS" (ringed, double inward arrows); "AMPLIFICADOR"; "ATRAVESADO →"; "INTERMEDIARIO COMERCIAL →"; "SUM. PLANTAS →" (suministro a plantas); "RECURSOS PROPIOS →"; "OBVIO →"; "UEG → EI" (circled); repeated "EI"; "KW"; boxed "EI – REG – NUEVITAS." Numerous further words and figures present but illegible from over-writing.
10.5 cm
Five other identical items without inscription.
Cardboard
Pressed/molded wood-pulp board (beer-mat board); printing ink (black, green, yellow); blue ballpoint ink (manuscript).
Good
Leopoldo Arús Caraballo
Leopoldo Arús Gálvez
owner
Prague
Czechoslovakia
Eastern Europe
Europe
acquisition, production
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
use
"U sv. Tomáše" in Prague's Malá Strana is the city's oldest beer hall — beer was brewed at the Augustinian monastery of St. Thomas from 1352 under Charles IV; the brewing tradition was broken by the 1950 monastery suppression ("Akce K"), after which the pub continued but its beer was brought in from Braník, until a new owner closed it in 2006. Nuevitas is a port and industrial city in Camagüey province, Cuba.