The
Paraguayan Coca Cola figures were first featured on Ian Hamilton's website about
5 years ago (picture below) and despite having many good contacts in South America I have only ever encountered these same 4 that are now in my collection (pictured above)
These
are 13 figures in the set but I only have these 4:-
Number 2 Arce Number 3
Ayala Number 7
Villamayor Number
9 Baez
The
other 9 figures are as follows :- Number 1
Chilavert Number
4 Gamarra Number
5 Rivarola Number
6 Enciso Number
8 Struway Number
10 Alcaraz Number
11 Gonzales Number
12 Suarez Number
13 Caniza
My
personal opinion is that only a few prototypes were manufactured but Coca Cola
then withdrew their promotion possibly due to "licensing problems" or
they decided that perhaps football was only popular enough in the other South
American countries of Brazil & Argentina to warrant a production of football
figures ?
Whatever
the reasons ... these figures are now generally regarded as the rarest in the world today & are much
"sought after"
Since
writing the above article, I have had a picture submitted to me in February
2003 from a collector in the USA named Victor Servian
Victor has allowed me to use what is probably the only known picture of
ALL 13 figures which
he has in his collection
