1 Peso 150 years of Swiss Railroad

Cuba's hard-currency commemorative program of the 1990s was driven almost entirely by the dollar shortage following the Soviet collapse, and pieces like this one were struck for export sale rather than domestic circulation — Cubans had no legal access to the foreign exchange these coins were priced in. The Swiss railroad connection is incidental; the series targeted any subject with collector appeal in Western markets.

Switzerland opened its first railway line, the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn between Zurich and Baden, in 1847 — placing the 150th anniversary squarely in 1997, one year after this coin's issue date.