1 Peso

The Banco Anglo-Costa-Ricense was one of three private banks authorized to issue currency in Costa Rica during the second half of the nineteenth century, operating under a government concession rather than as a central bank. This 1864 issue predates the formal banking legislation of 1871, placing it among the earliest circulating private banknotes in the country.

Local printing in San José at this period was technically limited, and early Costa Rican private bank issues frequently show the constraints of that — uneven impression, variable ink saturation, and paper sourced through Atlantic trade routes rather than purpose-made banknote stock. Worth examining the back carefully for any manuscript authorization, which was common practice for the earliest issues of this series.