50 Pesos Caribbean Fauna - Swallowtail Butterfly

Cuba's large-format silver fauna series of the 1990s was produced primarily for the export collector market, generating hard currency at a time when the U.S. embargo and the collapse of Soviet subsidies had left the island in acute economic crisis. The Special Period — Cuba's euphemism for the post-Soviet contraction beginning in 1991 — pushed the government to aggressively expand its numismatic export program.

The Cuban swallowtail, Papilio caiguanabus, is endemic to Pinar del Río province and remains one of the rarest butterflies in the Caribbean.