2 Pesos

Banco de Costa Rica was a private commercial bank operating under government concession, not a central bank — Costa Rica wouldn't establish a true central bank until 1950. These peso-denominated notes were issued during the country's transitional monetary period before the colón fully displaced the peso, a conversion fixed at 2 pesos to 1 colón under the 1896 monetary reform. This note predates that shift by roughly a year.

American Bank Note Company held a near-monopoly on Latin American currency printing at this period, and the S-prefix in the Pick reference reflects its private bank status — technically an obligation of the institution rather than the state, though in practice the distinction mattered little to users.