Paraguay issued a sprawling series of .999 silver pieces commemorating the 1972 Munich Olympics, and this broad jump subject is one among dozens of denominations and athletic themes the Banco Central produced in the early 1970s — a period when many smaller nations discovered that Olympic-licensed commemoratives sold reliably to foreign collectors and generated hard currency with minimal domestic circulation.
Munich itself, of course, was overshadowed by the September massacre of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches by the Black September organization. Coins struck before that event carry no hint of what was coming.
Paraguay issued a sprawling series of .999 silver pieces commemorating the 1972 Munich Olympics, and this broad jump subject is one among dozens of denominations and athletic themes the Banco Central produced in the early 1970s — a period when many smaller nations discovered that Olympic-licensed commemoratives sold reliably to foreign collectors and generated hard currency with minimal domestic circulation.
Munich itself, of course, was overshadowed by the September massacre of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches by the Black September organization. Coins struck before that event carry no hint of what was coming.