100 Colones Manatee

Issued as part of Costa Rica's contribution to the FAO coinage program, this 1974 piece belongs to a broader international effort to promote food security awareness through circulating commemorative currency. The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) was already a species under documented pressure in Central American coastal waters by the early 1970s, making its appearance here an early instance of conservation messaging embedded in national coinage — well before such themes became routine.

The .500 fineness places it among the baser silver commemoratives of the decade, a cost-compromise common to FAO-affiliated issues struck for broad distribution rather than collector markets.