10 Pesos Bastille, Piedfort

Cuba's piedfort issues of the late 1980s were produced almost entirely for the European collector market, with distribution handled through intermediaries in Spain — an arrangement that suited Havana's need for hard currency during a period of acute Soviet subsidy decline. The Bastille bicentennial provided a convenient hook for export sales in 1989, a year when Cuba was quietly preparing for the economic catastrophe that would follow the USSR's collapse two years later.

Piedforts at double the standard flan thickness were struck in very limited numbers and were never intended for circulation. The JMA reference places this firmly within the Cuban joint-mintage attribution system used by specialists to distinguish Havana-authorized issues from later unauthorized restrike material.