PMG Grades Rare Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica Notes

When Paper Money Guaranty® (PMG®) recently received two Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica notes for authentication and grading, it prompted the team to check the PMG Population Report for these issues. Attesting to their rarity, just three issued Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica notes have been graded by PMG to date; a 10, 20 and 50 Colones (Pick# S202a, S203a, and S204a respectively).

The front of all Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica banknotes share a common central vignette of a bald eagle while the back of each denomination depicts a different, beautifully engraved allegorical figure. The notes were designed and printed by American Bank Note Company of New York (ABNC).

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10 Colones, Series A, Pick# S202a, signed Jaime Rojas Bennett, Administrador, and Fabian Esquivel Flores, El Presidente. Black on multi-color. Issued notes are dated from 1910-1916, and the back depicts an allegory of commerce. A total of 44,537 notes were issued with most subsequently withdrawn from circulation. It is estimated that about 25 issued examples survive today. The March 25, 1913 dated 10 Colones note graded by PMG was printed in the serial number range 41,001 to 42,036.

There were also 2,500 Series B notes printed with an August 1, 1912 date, Pick# S202b. However, there is only one example known, serial number 001 held in the Central Bank of Costa Rica’s Numismatic Museum. Series B is identical in look to Series A.

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20 Colones, Series A, Pick# 203a, signed Jaime Rojas Bennett, Administrador, and Fabian Esquivel Flores, El Presidente. Black on multicolor. Issued notes are dated from 1910-1916, and the back depicts an allegory of music and geography. A total of 18,750 notes were issued with most subsequently withdrawn from circulation. It is estimated that about 20 issued examples survive today. The July 1, 1910 dated 20 Colones note graded by PMG was printed in serial number range 2,501 to 7,500.

Click images to enlarge.

50 Colones, Series A, Pick# S204a, signed Jaime Rojas Bennett, Administrador, and Fabian Esquivel Flores, El Presidente. Black on multicolor. Issued notes are dated from 1910-1916, and the back depicts an allegory of sculpture. A total of 10,200 notes were issued with most subsequently withdrawn from circulation. It is estimated that about 5 issued examples survive today. The October 1, 1910, dated 50 Colones note graded by PMG was printed in serial number range 2001 to 4000.

There were also 500 Series B notes printed with an August 1, 1912 date, Pick# S204b. However, there is only one example known, serial number 001 held in the Central Bank of Costa Rica’s Numismatic Museum. Series B is identical in look to Series A.

To better understand how notes issued by the Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica fits within paper money issued in Costa Rica at the time, it is helpful to first have a quick review of the paper money history of Costa Rica: Costa Rica’s first bank, Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, was founded in 1858 and issued notes of 1, 2, 10, and 20 pesos denominations. In 1896 monetary reform established the Colon (named after Christopher Columbus) as the currency of Costa Rica, replacing the peso.

The Bank Law of 1900 allowed any bank with a capital of one million Colones to have the capacity to issue notes. Aided by the new Bank Law, two private banks — the Banco Comercial de Costa Rica and the Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica — joined the ranks of Banco Anglo-Costarricense and Banco de Costa Rica to be the four private banks issuing paper money in the early 1900s.

After 1917, the Banco Internacional de Costa Rica became the only bank authorized to issue paper money in Costa Rica, until 1937 when the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica took over the role until 1949. In 1950 The Banco Central de Costa Rica began issuing paper money as the only authorized issuer of paper money for the country.

With the 1900 Bank Law and financial support of the banking house Bennett, Rojas and Fernandez, The Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica was established in 1908 and continued in business until 1928. The bank issued paper money during the period 1910-1917 in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 Colones.

The bank’s investors and management were an eclectic mix of Costa Ricans and foreigners, including Scottish, English, French, North American, Spanish, German, Colombian and Jamaican. In total there were 50 founding members. Among those founding members was a Scot named Jaime Rojas Bennett.

Jaime Bennett came to Costa Rica to seek his fortune in business and became a founder and shareholder of Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica. His name features prominently as the “Admistrador” signature found on the bottom right of the notes. Fortunately for the numismatic community, being a shareholder in the bank allowed him to collect examples of bank notes of the time.

His grandson, Jaime Solera Bennett (1918-1995), president of the Board of Directors for the Central Bank of Costa Rica for many years, inherited his bank note collection and continued to actively build on it. After Jaime Solera passed away, his family donated his collection to the Central Bank of Costa Rica’s Numismatic Museum in 1997. The collection consists of Costa Rican bank notes spanning a 100-year period from 1864-1865, including the finest known examples (serial number 1’s!) of Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica issues.

Without the collecting instinct of the Bennetts, their wonderful collection of Costa Rican notes would be lost to history and the numismatic community would be the poorer for it. When travel permits, a PMG team trip to Costa Rica seems in order to check out the Central Bank of Costa Rica’s Numismatic Museum and see the amazing serial number 1 notes of the Banco Mercantil de Costa Rica!

References:

• Historia de los Billetes de Costa Rica 1858-2012 by Jose Alberto Carranza Astua
• Latin American Bank Note Records – American Bank Note Company Archives by Ricardo M. Magan