Costa Rican Banknotes – Brief History

Costa Rica has had very colorful and interesting banknotes since 2009 when they introduced a 1000 Colones polymer banknote and changed all of their designs to match that concept. That doesn’t mean that before then, their banknotes were full of colorful images and designs. For many years, De LaRue printed the Costa Rican banknotes and followed a pretty standard design concept. Portraits of leaders were on the front with some nice security line work and on the reverse a building or landmark with more security line work. The 2009 series, printed by Oberthur changed that concept significantly. Each banknote has a bright background of color. A country leader is still on the front but, buildings are no longer on the back because local animals and plants have taken their place. Costa Rica is known as a ecological paradise, so it makes sense to highlight these features on their banknotes.

In July of 2020, Costa Rican Banknotes were updated by converting all of their notes to polymer. The design now looks much more like recent Canadian and English polymer notes with large vertical windows and high security hologram with a replication of the portrait image. For collectors that like animal themes, the Colones are a treasure. They feature a white tailed deer, bullshark, starfish, monkey, crab, sloth, hummingbird, and butterfly on the new series. The colors are vivid and very attractive. 

This is a series of Costa Rican Banknotes well worth collecting.