Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Colones Series B
| Issuer | Banco Central de Costa Rica |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979-1985 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Thomas de la Rue, London |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | QUINIENTOS COLONES Acuerdo de la Junta Directiva N° Presidente ejecutivo Gerente Manuel María Gutiérrez BANCO CENTRAL DE COSTA RICA (Translation: FIVE HUNDRED COLONES Board of Directors Agreement N° Executive President Manager Manuel María Gutiérrez CENTRAL BANK OF COSTA RICA) |
| Reverse description | A central vignette of the National Theatre of Costa Rica occupies the centre of the note, framed by decorative guilloche elements in the surrounding borders. The denomination QUINIENTOS COLONES appears in the upper and lower margins, with the printer's imprint of Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited present in the lower border. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Costa Rica's 500 colón note had a turbulent run through the early 1980s, when the country suffered one of its worst economic crises in the twentieth century. Between 1980 and 1982, the colón lost roughly two-thirds of its value against the dollar, a collapse driven by falling coffee and banana export revenues, ballooning external debt, and a fixed exchange rate held past the point of credibility. Notes of this denomination, once substantial, became routine tender almost overnight.
Thomas De La Rue printed the Series B on a security watermark paper, consistent with their standard contract output for Central American issuers of the period. The series ran long enough — 1979 through 1985 — to span both the pre-crisis and post-devaluation periods, meaning surviving notes from different dates within the run represent meaningfully different economic moments despite being identical in design.