...por <b>UNA PESETA</b> se arrenpujaron... Uso y desuso de una <b>moneda</b> en Costa Rica

Abstract

In the Spanish America silver reales were used as coins (8 reales = 1 peso). The first silver coins were brought probably to Costa Rica by the spaniards who founded Garcimuñoz (1561), and Cartago (1563). Cob coins from the colonial mints, as well as spanish coins, circulated from the colonial period until the mid XIX century. In 1845, Costa Rica counter stamped spanish pesetas, equivalent to two reales, giving origin to the nickname peseta for all 2 reales, 1⁄4 peso, 25 centavos, and 25 céntimos coins, that circulated in this country. This writing presents a brief description of the types of coins of these values, and gives examples of some users of money in the country, from colonial times until mid XX century. The peseta coins have not contain silver since 1935, and dissappeared as currency several years after they were last issued in 1989; however, in 2009 most of the costaricans remember using the peseta of two reales, and still use the terms plata (silver) and pesos when referring to money