5 Colones

The Banco Internacional de Costa Rica was a state-owned institution established in 1914 to replace the Banco de Costa Rica, which had accumulated serious reserve problems. By the early 1930s, the bank was operating under considerable fiscal strain — the Depression had gutted coffee export revenues, Costa Rica's dominant foreign earner, and the government was forcing austerity measures that directly affected the bank's note-issuing operations. This series falls squarely in that difficult window.

ABNC produced the plates in New York, as they did for the majority of Central American issues of this period. The relationship between ABNC and Costa Rican banking authorities dated back decades by this point, with successive series simply re-ordered as stocks depleted.

In 1936 the Banco Internacional was reorganized and renamed Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, ending the issuing authority for this series entirely.