A skittles player about to release the ball is the most homely design in Spain’s Olympic silver: on the 1991 2000 pesetas one of the country’s oldest folk games, bolos, stands beside the Barcelona ’92 emblem.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance order of 1 July 1991 describes the reverse of the year’s third coin as a bolos player «in the act of throwing the ball». Above him run the legend «XXV OLIMPIADA BARCELONA 1992» and the Games emblem. The same order gives the coin the informal name «ocho reales», eight reales, the name of Spain’s historic silver coin. The obverse is common to the whole programme: the overlapping portraits of King Juan Carlos I and Prince Felipe by Rafael Vallejo García.

Bolos, knocking down as many wooden pins as possible with a ball, survives in Spain in dozens of regional variants. The tradition is strongest along the Cantabrian coast, in Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country, and in Castile and León, home to bolo palma, bolo leonés and pasabolo.

The «Flor de Cuño» uncirculated version differs from the proof at the edge: by the order, reeded sections alternate with plain ones. For a collection it is a rare case of an Olympic coin telling the story of a national tradition rather than a sport on the Games programme.

UNC condition: the coin has not circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre, with the player and the ball untouched by rubbing.

Other coins from the VPcoins catalogue will help you continue a series or start a new collection.