Costa Rican Colón

The Costa Rican colón (CRC) is the national currency of Costa Rica. It has an exchange rate of 500 CRC = 1 USD. The symbol for the colon is a C with two slashes (₡) but may well be represented with the cedi sign (₵).
The colón is known by many different names. The Costa Rican colón is also sometimes referred to as the peso, the Costa Ricans were used to saying peso before it was replaced. Another name or the colon is the caña, but it is more often used as a plural. The other one is teja, which means a roof tile, for one hundred colones. The 50 colones is referred to as media teja.

The colón was introduced to Costa Rica in 1896. It replaced the Costa Rican peso at 1:1 and the government decided that there was no immediate need of the production of new coins. After a year, 2, 5, 10 and 20 colones were produced and the 50 centimos (Costa Rican colón subunit) as well. Between 1864 and 1917, four private banks issued notes for Costa Rica. Currently circulating bank notes are the 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 and 20000 colones. The 50,000 note, which has been introduced in 2010, is the largest currency denomination in the world which is worth at least 100USD.

The Costa Rican colón notes are bright in colors and feature portrait of people of historical relevance up front, and floras and faunas at the back.

• 1000 colones – Color: Red; Width: 145 mm; Front: a portrait of Braullio Carrilo Colin; Back: a tree, a deer and a lotus flower
• 2000 colones – Color: Blue; Width: 132 mm; Front: a portrait of Mauro Fernández Acuña; Back: a shark, a starfish and an underwater scene
• 5000 colones – Color: Yellow; Width: 139 mm; Front: a portrait of Alfredo González Flores; Back: mangroves, a monkey and a crab
• 10000 colones – Color: Green; Width: 145 mm; Front: a portrait of José Figueres Ferrer; Back: a sloth and bamboos
• 20000 colones – Color: Orange; Width: 153 mm; Front: María Isabel Carvajal “Carmen Lyra”; Back: a hummingbird and a sunflower
• 50000 colones – Color: Purple; Width: 160mm; Front: Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno; Back: a butterfly, mushrooms and a palm tree

Costa Rican Colón