1 Centavo Piedfort

Piedforts — coins struck at double or greater thickness on standard-diameter planchets — were almost exclusively produced as presentation or pattern pieces for official examination, never intended for circulation. The 1892 Costa Rican aluminium centavo piedfort is a rare survivor of that approval process, likely submitted to government officials evaluating aluminium as a coinage metal during a period when several Latin American nations were experimenting with the material as a cheaper alternative to copper. Aluminium coinage proposals were frequently rejected on practical grounds: the metal's light weight made it unpopular with the public and prone to counterfeiting in base alloys.