50 Céntimos Banco Internacional de Costa Rica

The Banco Internacional de Costa Rica was established in 1914 as a state-controlled institution intended to break the private banking monopoly that had dominated Costa Rican finance since the nineteenth century. This small-denomination note belongs to the bank's earliest series, issued during a period when fractional currency in Costa Rica was genuinely scarce — silver coinage had been draining from circulation since the First World War disrupted trade flows and hoarding accelerated.

The ABNCo plates for this series were among the more economical commissions the New York firm handled for Central American clients during this period, reflecting the note's purely transactional, small-change function rather than any prestige printing contract.