2 Reales Type III Counterstamp

Costa Rica's counterstamp program was a direct response to chronic coin shortages in the early republic, when colonial-era Spanish and later Central American Federation silver circulated alongside locally sanctioned pieces. The Type III horse counterstamp — applied at the Casa de Moneda de San José — was authorized specifically to validate existing 2 Reales planchets for continued domestic circulation, distinguishing them from underweight or debased foreign pieces flooding the region.

The host coins vary considerably in origin, and attribution of any given example depends heavily on identifying the underlying type beneath the counterstamp.