Presented here, an antique & rare 14K gold (professionally acid tested) and multicolor enamels religious medal representing Our lady of Charity of Copper, the Cuba's patroness Saint and a crucial symbol of national identity. 

WEIGHT:  2.60gr
 
MEASURES:  19X 26mm, not including its hanging ring.
 
ESTIMATED AGE: circa 1890.
 
GENERAL CONDITIONS: very good general conditions, just showing normal wear and a tiny point of missing enamel on the  ceiling near the Mother Mary's crown, please refer to the pictures.
 
It’s widely accepted that the legend of Our Lady of Charity (of Copper) or Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre stretches back to the early 1600s. Around that time, two Indigenous Cubans and a ten-year-old African slave went to collect salt in the Bay of Nipe. While at sea, a violent storm overtook their small boat. Stuck under a downpour with waves crashing aboard, the group prayed to an image of the Virgin Mary carried by the young slave.
At that moment, the skies opened, the storm cleared, and the group spotted a single, white bird floating on distant waves. But as they drew closer, they discovered the bird was a statue fixed to a board that read, “Yo Soy la Virgen de la Caridad” or “I am the Virgin of Charity.” 
Believing it was a literal sign of Mary’s protection the group rushed it back to their village, where a local official ordered a small chapel built in the village of Barajagua. But soon after, the statue disappeared from the chapel. Distraught, locals formed a search party that night – only to discover the statue back in its original location the following morning. This happened three more times before the villagers decided to move the image to the nearby town of El Cobre.
But once again, the statue disappeared. It was soon discovered by a young girl in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra mountains. On that hill, locals erected a church now known as the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Charity. 
Two hundred years later in 1801, the king of Spain, Charles IV, freed Cuban slaves from the El Cobre copper mines – increasing Cuban belief in the power of the statue. And in 1916, Pope Benedict XV declared Our Lady of Charity the patroness of Cuba with numerous popes awarding special status to the image in the decades since.