10 Céntimos

The Banco Nacional de Costa Rica issued this brass series as wartime tin and nickel shortages forced most Latin American mints to reformulate their coinage alloys during the early 1940s. Costa Rica had relied on foreign mints — principally the Philadelphia Mint — for much of its coinage, and supply disruptions during the Second World War pushed the country toward domestic solutions with whatever alloys were available.

KM#180 spans a five-year window that straddles the war's end, with compositional consistency across the run despite the chaotic global metals market of the period.