10 Colones

The Banco Nacional de Costa Rica was created in 1914 as a state institution with a monopoly on banknote issuance, consolidating what had been a fragmented system of private bank circulation. By the mid-1930s, the political pressure to finance public works and agricultural credit through the national bank was considerable, and the note series of this period reflects that expanded role.

Pick 199 is not rare, but 1937-dated examples in honest circulated condition are harder to place than the catalog frequency suggests — heavy use in commercial transactions took a predictable toll on the paper.