Name/Title
Lottery savings-bond fraction (centésima), Plan de Bonos del Instituto Nacional de Ahorro y Viviendas, Sorteo No. 94, Havana, 14 January 1961, portrait of Julio Antonio MellaEntry/Object ID
2025.11.76Description
A horizontal paper rectangle printed in yellow-green over a pale green security underprint of the usual repeating pattern with the institute's name in large pale lettering. The back is printed in black on the same green ground.
Front. At left, inside a circular frame, is a profile portrait of a young man facing right, bare-shouldered, with thick hair and a strong jaw, worked in fine engraved-style hatching. A cartouche beneath reads JULIO ANTONIO MELLA / 1903 ★ 1929, the dates separated by a five-pointed star. The picture is signed at lower right J. BIBILONI.
Top center: VALOR NOMINAL 22¢ and PRECIO AL PUBLICO 25¢, then REPUBLICA DE CUBA and INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE AHORRO Y VIVIENDAS. The bond number 03423 sits in a panel with CERO TRES CUATRO DOS TRES spelled out beneath. Lower center: NOVENTA Y CUATRO and SORTEO Nº 94 / ENERO 14, 1961. The panels at right hold 94ᴬ, then an emblem of a rounded shield-like form flanked by two small wings or leaves, then NOVENTA Y CUATRO.
Back. Same layout as the other pre-1968 tickets: the refund table and centésima statement at left; the size of the draw, prize list, house-prize clause and DIRECTOR GENERAL signature at right; SORTEO No. 94 / 14 DE ENERO DE 1961 in the vertical panel. The number 03423 is punched through as a perforated cancellation.Context
The picture series ran wider than housing: it included commemorative portraits. With five tickets the honest description is that the pictures alternated between INAV housing and revolutionary subject matter, the 1968 cane cutter being the other non-housing example.
Who Mella was. Julio Antonio Mella was born 25 March 1903 in Havana, under the name Nicanor McPartland. He was one of the founders of the original Communist Party of Cuba, recognized by Moscow in 1925, and founded the Asociación de Nuevos Emigrados Revolucionarios Cubanos in 1926. He was assassinated on 10 January 1929 in Mexico City, shot at point-blank range while walking home at night with the photographer Tina Modotti. ⚠️ Responsibility is disputed by historians: the Cuban dictatorship of the day, factional violence within the Communist Party over Trotskyism, or some combination. Several suspects were named, including José Agustín López, who was officially charged.
⚠️ The date on the ticket is four days after the anniversary of the assassination. The draw fell on 14 January 1961; Mella was killed on 10 January 1929, thirty-two years before. On April, Castro would declare the revolution communist.Acquisition
Accession
2025.11Acquisition Method
PurchaseMade/Created
Bureau
INAVDate made
1/14/1961Time Period
1960sPlace of Origin
Country
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaDesigner or Engraver Information
Designer or Engraver
J. BiblioniRole
illustratorBanknote Details
Obverse
Transcription
VALOR NOMINAL 22¢ (nominal value 22 cents); PRECIO AL PUBLICO 25¢ (price to the public 25 cents); REPUBLICA DE CUBA; INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE AHORRO Y VIVIENDAS; 03423 / CERO TRES CUATRO DOS TRES; JULIO ANTONIO MELLA / 1903 ★ 1929; 94ᴬ; NOVENTA Y CUATRO twice (ninety-four); SORTEO Nº 94 / ENERO 14, 1961 (Draw No. 94, January 14, 1961); J. BIBILONI. Plus the hand-drawn 7.Reverse
Description
the refund table, printed cleanly here, from Hasta el primer año 10% = $2.20 el entero (up to the first year, 10% = $2.20 on the whole bond) through 15%, 23%, 36%, 60%, quinto 110% = 24.20, sexto 113.3% = 24.93, 116.6%, 121% to noveno 125.4% = 27.59. ⚠️ This copy confirms the 24.20 and 24.93 readings that printed badly on the Sorteo 86 ticket.
CENTESIMA parte del Bono de dicho número para el Sorteo No. 94, que se ha de celebrar en La Habana el día catorce de Enero de mil novecientos sesenta y uno. (One hundredth part of the Bond of this number for Draw No. 94, to be held in Havana on the fourteenth of January, nineteen hundred and sixty-one.)
Right column: 30,000 bonds at $22 = $660,000; 1 prize of $100,000; 1 prize of 10 houses at $5,000 = $50,000; 1,000 prizes of $50 = $50,000; prizes $200,000; remainder $460,000; 7% for expenses $46,200; for refunds and housing $413,800. Identical to Sorteo 77 and Sorteo 86. Then the house-prize clause, DIRECTOR GENERAL and the signature.Composition
Material
PaperMaterial Notes
Paper with printed green security underprint; yellow-green and black inks. Hand mark in black ink or crayon (tentative).Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
PastoritaPerson or Organization
INAVPerson or Organization
J. BiblioniRelated Places
Place
Country
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaCreated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsCreate Date
September 23, 2026Updated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsUpdate Date
September 23, 2026
