20 Colones

The Banco Comercial de Costa Rica was one of several private banks operating under Costa Rica's free banking era, which effectively ended with the banking law reforms of the early twentieth century. By 1913, the institution was already operating on borrowed time — the government's push toward centralized monetary control would eventually eliminate competing private note issuers entirely, making late-period commercial bank issues like this one products of a system in its final phase.

American Bank Note Company printed for dozens of Latin American private banks during this period, and the quality of engraving on these Costa Rican commercials is consistently high. The P#S148 designation places it in the "S" — private bank — series, catalogued separately precisely because these notes never achieved the official status their issuers claimed.