The scan is not mine, nor is the chip, so I do not have an answer on the spotting.

Regarding a "hoard" of Cuban chips... Although I am not a historian, nor do I have first-hand knowledge, but in simple terms its like this...

Castro comes to power in Cuba and Nationalizes all foreign owned operated businesses and concerns. He outlaws gaming and all the gaming equipment disappears. Over the years Cuba has remained a somewhat closed society and there is not much visability into what happened to the gaming equipment.

Also over the years, casino memorabilia collecting esculates and there is a void in terms of Cuban gaming artifacts. Supply and demand esculates the relative value of any Cuban gaming items to the point that if the equipment was put into hidden storage (awaiting a political change) there is now another reason for it to surface, i.e., monetary value.

Or, if not put into hidden storage, then items like chips likely went to homes and the rise in value is making then surface, especially since Cuba is more open now than in the past.

There was an awful lot of gaming in Cuba and as collectors, we are starting to see a rise in the appearance of Cuban chips, over the past two years or so.

I hope this helps, but please note, it is essentially just my opinion.

Jim Follis