1 Real Type VII Countermark

Costa Rica lacked a functional mint for much of the early republican period, relying instead on countermarked foreign silver to supply everyday commerce. The Type VII punch — applied at the Casa de Moneda in San José — was used to authenticate and revalue circulating macuquinas and milled reales from neighboring Central American states, principally Guatemala and Honduras. The underlying host coin matters considerably to collectors; Guatemalan hosts are most frequently encountered, while Honduran and Salvadoran examples command meaningful premiums.

The countermark program ran through the 1850s until domestically-struck coinage became sufficiently available. Authentication of the punch itself is the central concern with this type, as contemporary forgeries of the countermark are documented.