10 Colones

The Banco Internacional de Costa Rica occupied an unusual position in Central American banking: it was simultaneously the government's commercial bank and, from 1922, the official agent of the Caja de Conversión — the exchange stabilization fund created to manage the colón's fixed rate against gold. Notes issued under this dual authority carried both institutional names, which is exactly what this series does. The arrangement was a stopgap, not a long-term solution, and the bank was eventually reorganized into the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica in 1936.

ABNC printed for dozens of Latin American clients in this period, and the Costa Rican contracts were steady work through the 1920s. Watermark security was the primary anti-counterfeiting measure — no serial number overprints or colored fibers appear on this series.