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"Venus" anti-spot cream (crema para manchas), tube
Object/Artifact
A used aluminum squeeze tube of "Venus" skin cream with a whitescrew cap. The print is green and cream with orange accents and the brand "VENUS" in large letters; a small figural emblem (a standing classical female figure, evoking Venus) appears at the shoulder of the tube. The front reads "crema para manchas" ("stain/spot cream"); the back carries a Spanish warning that it is not a sunscreen. The tube measures about 14.5 cm long, 4 cm wide, 2 cm deep. It is used. The record reproduces a 1976 Cuban print advertisement for the product as a reference image.
2025.1.59
Used by Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez collecition
2025.1
MINIL
1970s
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
Venus
Cuba, c. 1970s (advertised 1976).
Inscription
front of tube
"crema para manchas"
Spanish
"stain cream"
Printed
Inscription
front of tube
"Venus"
English
Printed
Inscription
back of tube
"no es una crema protectora antisolar por lo que no debe ser usada para exponerse al sol"
Spanish
"not a sun protection cream, so it should not be used when exposed to the sun"
Printed
Inscription
back of tube
"Hecho en Cuba"
Spanish
"Made in Cuba"
Printed
Front (Spanish): "crema para manchas." Translation: "stain/spot cream." Front: "Venus" (brand/edition). Back (Spanish): "no es una crema protectora antisolar por lo que no debe ser usada para exponerse al sol." Translation: "not a sun-protection cream, so it should not be used when exposed to the sun." "Hecho en Cuba" ("Made in Cuba").
2 cm
4 cm
14.5 cm
tube, cap
Owner kept a spare cap.
aluminum
Plastic
MATERIALS: Metal (aluminum/tin) collapsible tube with printed surface (green, cream, red inks) and a molded plastic screw cap; contained a cosmetic cream. TECHNIQUES: Printed collapsible metal tube; lettering and emblem lithographed/printed on the tube surface.
Fair
Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez
owner
MINIL
producer
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
production, acquisition
The advertisement frames the cream as removing hyperpigmentation — freckles and dark spots produced by the sun ("pecas y manchas oscuras producidas por el sol") — with directions to apply a thin film on spotted areas at bedtime, cautions about allergic reaction and hypersensitive skin, and the explicit warning that it is not a sunscreen. The ad also gives the retail framing: sold freely ("venta libre") in the network of industrial-product stores at 2.50 pesos.