1000 Colones

Costa Rica switched its high-denomination notes to Guardian® polymer beginning with the 2019-dated series — a practical response to the country's humid tropical climate, which accelerates paper note deterioration significantly faster than in temperate economies. Orell Füssli, printing continuously from Zurich since the sixteenth century, has supplied polymer substrates and security printing to numerous Latin American central banks as the regional shift away from cotton-fiber notes accelerated through the 2010s.

The transition was not without friction. Early public reception was mixed, partly due to the tactile difference and partly due to counterfeit concerns that the new security window and OVI elements were specifically designed to address.