Costa Rica
Our catalogue of banknotes of Costa Rica.
The colón (named after Christopher Columbus, known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish) is the currency of Costa Rica. The plural is colones. The ISO 4217 code is CRC.
The symbol for the colón is a capital letter "C" crossed by two diagonal strokes. The symbol is encoded at U+20A1 ₡ colón sign and may be typed on many English language Microsoft Windows keyboards using the keystrokes.
The colón sign is not to be confused with U+00A2 ¢ cent sign , or with the Ghanaian cedi, U+20B5 ₵ cedi sign. Nonetheless, the commonly available cent symbol '¢' is frequently used locally to designate the colón in price markings and advertisements.
The United States dollar is also accepted unofficially in some places throughout Costa Rica.Source: Wikipedia
1917 - Costa Rica PIC S121 1 Colon banknote
This individual Costa Rica banknote is denominated 1 colon and is associated with the year 1917. The..
1978 - Costa Rica P238c 20 Colones banknote
This Costa Rica 20 Colones banknote is associated with 1978 and is catalogued as P238c. It belongs t..
1983 - Costa Rica P236d 5 Colones banknote
This Costa Rican 5 colones banknote is associated with 1983 and catalogued as Pick P236d. The note f..
1987 - Costa Rica 500 Colones banknote P255 UNC
This Costa Rica 500 Colones banknote is associated with 1987 and is catalogued as Pick P255. The ref..
1988 - Costa Rica P253 50 Colones banknote
This Costa Rican 50 Colones banknote is associated with 1988 and catalogued as Pick P253. The catalo..
1989 - Costa Rica P236d 5 Colones banknote
This Costa Rica 5 Colones banknote is catalogued as Pick P236d and is associated with 1989. The note..
1989 - Costa Rica P255 500 Colones banknote
This Costa Rican 500 colones banknote is catalogued as Pick P255 and is associated with the 1989 dat..
1990 - Costa Rica P236e 5 Colones banknote
This Costa Rica 5 Colones banknote is catalogued as Pick P236e and is associated with the 1990–1992 ..
1991 - Costa Rica P257 50 Colones banknote
This Costa Rica 50 colones banknote is catalogued as Pick 257 (P257) and is associated with 1991, on..
1992 - Costa Rica P257 50 Colones banknote
This Costa Rica 50 Colones banknote is associated with 1992 and catalogued as Pick P257. The note ha..
Frequently asked questions
What periods of Costa Rican banknotes are represented in this shop’s catalog?
This Costa Rica category spans dates from 1917 to 2009. The earliest represented note is the 1917 one-colón entry cataloged as S121. Other listings cover the late 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s and 2009. These dates describe the material represented in this shop’s catalog rather than a complete chronology of every banknote issued by Costa Rica.
Which denominations and Pick references appear in the Costa Rica category?
Represented denominations include 1, 5, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 colones. Catalog references include S121, P236d, P236e, P238c, P253, P255, P257, P258, P259b, P274a and P275b. The range allows collectors to browse Costa Rican notes by denomination, date and catalog attribution, although it should not be treated as a complete list of all Costa Rican issues.
How can I distinguish the cataloged five-colones notes?
Use both the printed date and the full Pick reference. The catalog includes five-colones notes dated 1983 and 1989 under P236d, as well as a 1990 note under P236e. The shared denomination alone is therefore not enough for precise identification. When organizing or comparing these Costa Rican notes, record the denomination, date and reference suffix together so that P236d and P236e are not treated as the same catalog variant.
Why do several Costa Rican notes share the reference P257?
The shop catalog applies P257 to 50-colones notes dated 1991, 1992 and 1993. This shows why a Pick number should be read alongside the date rather than used as the only identifier. For a collection inventory, a clear entry such as “Costa Rica, 50 colones, 1992, P257” distinguishes the dated listing while preserving the common reference shared with the 1991 and 1993 notes.
What details should a buyer compare before choosing a Costa Rican banknote?
Compare the denomination, printed date, complete Pick reference and any condition information stated in the individual listing. Reference suffixes matter: P236d and P236e identify different catalog entries, while P259b, P274a and P275b also retain lettered suffixes. Repeated references may occur with different dates, as with P255 and P257. Checking all of these fields helps ensure that the selected note matches the intended place in a collection.
Which denominations appear under more than one main Pick reference in this catalog?
Several denominations are represented by distinct references. The 50-colones group includes P253 and P257; the 500-colones notes use P255; and the 1,000-colones denomination appears as P259b and P274a. The five-colones group includes the closely related P236d and P236e references. These patterns make denomination-based collecting possible while also showing that notes of the same face value may require separate catalog identification.