A good luck charm or a jewel? In Miami, the new Celia Cruz quarter is more than money

Quarters are usually worth 25 cents. But quarters featuring the Queen of Salsa? In Miami, those are priceless.

Longtime fans and local businesses have been racing to get their hands on new quarters embossed with a portrait Celia Cruz, the iconic late salsa singer. Cruz, the first Afro-Latina on U.S. currency, was one of five historic female figures selected for the U.S. Mint’s 2024 American Women Quarters Program . The coins were designed by Mint artist Phebe Hemphill who said she wanted them to capture Cruz’s “greatness and vitality.”

Though the coins are now in circulation this month, you’d be hard pressed finding a Miamian willing to spend these quarters at a laundromat, ventanita or gumball machine.

“These are keepers,” said Elena Santayana at Santayana Jewelry, a family-owned Miami jewelry store that specializes in Cuban-themed charms and mounting silver Cuban coin pendants. “Everybody’s talking about it. It’s exciting for our town, exciting for our culture.”

Born in Cuba in 1925, Cruz became one of the most celebrated Latin singers of the 20th century, known for her booming vocals, colorful wigs, beaming smile and signature catchphrase: “¡Azúcar!”

Cruz’s career took off in the 1950s as the singer for the band La Sonora Matancera, but she was exiled from her home country when Fidel Castro took power. She became an American citizen, settled in New Jersey and remade herself as a solo act in New York’s burgeoning Latin music scene, working with artists like Tito Puente. Throughout her long career, she recorded 75 albums, won the National Medal of Arts and received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

Her hit songs — from “Guantanamera” and “Quimbara” to “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” and “La vida es un carnaval” — are played in Miami’s salsa clubs, family parties and radio stations to this day. Cruz is royalty to Miami’s Cuban community, who turned out in droves for her funeral at the Freedom Tower in 2003 after her death at 77.

That’s why some businesses are stocking up on the coins, not as spare change but as mementos.

Elena Santayana, the jewelry store’s Creative and Content Officer, wanted the coins as shiny as possible to turn them into pendants. She ordered 110 Cruz coins — 100 normal quarters and 10 silver coins — fresh from the U.S. Mint as soon as she could.

Besides the sentimental value, the quarters are technically worth more than 25 cents. One bag of 100 quarters costs $45 to order from U.S. Mint website.

When Elena posted a photo of her brand new rolls of coins on Instagram, she immediately got calls and messages from customers asking if she was going to mount them for jewelry.

“They trust us 100%,” Elena said. “They said, ‘I don’t know what you’re making, but I want it.’”

The store is producing special mounts to perfectly fit the quarters. Once the pendants are ready for purchase next week, they’ll go for about $250, Elena said.

Elena’s mother, Marisa Santayana, 80, inspected the details of Celia’s signature outfit on the coin with her jeweler’s loupe. “Oh my God. This is incredible,” she said in Spanish. “The earrings, the clothes.”

People are sure to keep these as good luck tokens, Marisa said.

For Elena, Celia Cruz represents her childhood; she remembers watching her parents dance to her music at house parties. She’s keeping a silver coin for herself.

“Apart from just loving Celia Cruz and her being part of our culture, it’s how much we love our own culture,” Elena said. “Even though we are second generation, third generation, we still remember her.”

Revolve Group, a South Florida marketing agency, was also quick order the quarters to gift to its clients as a sweet surprise. Cuban-born co-founder Mabel De Beunza said she hopes people keep the coins as lucky charms or use them to scratch off “raspadito” lottery tickets.

“It’s my hope that each time someone reaches into their pocket and feels this quarter, they’re reminded of their own capacity to bring light and rhythm to the world around them,” she said.

Over at the Latin Cafe 2000, a Cuban restaurant with several Miami locations, cafecitos come with extra “azúcar.” Starting this week, customers who spend $50 on a meal in cash will get a Celia Cruz quarter with their change.

Owner Eric Castellanos got 1,000 quarters for now and is ordering more, he said. He was hoping to keep the quarter special going at all of the Latin Cafe locations until Cruz’s birthday on Oct. 21, but the coins are a hot commodity and may not last that long.

“We wanted to give a little ‘azúcar’ to all of our customers,” Castellanos said. “The idea is they come here, they get not only a memorable experience eating a taste of Cuba, but they get a memorable experience when they check out and they get a little a token of appreciation from us. It’s a piece of culture.”

Castellanos gave one token of appreciation to delivery driver Gilberto Fajardo, 69, a lifelong Celia Cruz fan, as he sat at the restaurant counter. When asked if he would ever spend the coin, Fajardo didn’t hesitate: Absolutely not.

“This is a memento for my whole life. This can’t be given away,” he said in Spanish as he held up the coin. “The value of this is incomparable.”

Celia Cruz’s image on American currency is not just a great honor for her legacy, but also for the Cuban community, Fajardo said.

“She deserves it because she was fantastic. She was an artist in every sense of the word,” Fajardo said. “Celia is Celia. Our star.”

This story was produced with financial support from individuals and Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.

Sign Up for the 5-Minute Herald