Bottecchia with American Theme?

I recently purchased a late 80's or early 90's Bottecchia Columbus SL frame with Columbus chrome fork that has an unusual "American Theme" It is dark blue in color and the Bottecchia decals are all upper case, not script like most Bottecchias and are red/white striped. The top tube has a decal that says "America's 500th" and there are patriotic top hats on the seat tube.
Does anyone know about this frame? Was it produced this way by Bottecchia or did someone do some image changing somewhere down the line?

I would appreciate any thoughts.

STEVE

 

It's clearly a commemoration of some Italian guy getting lost 500 years before the year 1992, dontcha think?

 

I have such a nice bike like the yours. It is a very precious masterpiece not very common because was built for commemorating the discovery of America.There are just a few specimen worldwide.In Italy it is evaluated about 10000 euro for a fairly good condition bike.


Ciao riccardo

 

Guys I used to have the Bottecchia America's 500 when I was younger ! My very first (seriuos) bike.. It was amazing!

I can confirm this was a special edition for the commemoration of Columbus Day in 1992.
It was an "entry level" bike with steel frame (not aluminuim) and the gear shifter on the down tube.

My father who gave it to me as present told me he paid 300.000 Lire (about 250 euros, if you actualize the figure to the cost of money in 2012) .

Riccardo, may I ask where did you get the information about the quotation? Thanks.

Ciao