Costa Rica’s Central Bank is putting the seventh and final coin in its “Sitios Emblemáticos de Nuestras Provincias” collection on sale today, closing a series that has turned some of our country’s best-known landmarks into collectible ₡25 pieces.
The final coin honors San José’s Teatro Nacional, one of Costa Rica’s most recognizable cultural landmarks. The collectible version goes on sale May 20 through authorized financial institutions, while a non-colored version of the same design also begins entering regular circulation as legal tender.
The Banco Central de Costa Rica has made 17,000 collectible units available: 10,000 mounted in acrylic and 7,000 presented in cases. Each costs ₡8,400, regardless of presentation, with sales limited to two coins per person. At the current reference exchange rate, that is roughly $18.50 to $19.
The reverse side of the coin features the Teatro Nacional and the inscriptions “Provincia de San José,” “Teatro Nacional” and “2023.” The obverse carries “República de Costa Rica” and “Banco Central de Costa Rica,” along with two raised bars intended to help people identify the coin by touch.
The release completes a province-by-province collection that began with Playa Manzanillo in Limón and continued with the Faro de Puntarenas, the Casona de Santa Rosa in Guanacaste, the Fortín de Heredia, the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago and Arenal Volcano in Alajuela. The sites were selected with input from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, using criteria such as recognition, tourism relevance and whether the landmark could be clearly represented on a coin.
For San José, the choice was the Teatro Nacional, declared a National Monument in 1965 and later recognized as a national symbol of historic architectural heritage. The building remains one of the capital’s main cultural and architectural reference points, located in the heart of downtown San José near Plaza de la Cultura.
Collectors are expected to move quickly. Previous coins in the series drew attention from numismatics fans, residents who wanted a keepsake from their province, and visitors interested in Costa Rican cultural memorabilia. The Central Bank has said the coins will be sold only through authorized financial institutions, which determine their own sales points, hours and inventory availability.
The standard circulating version will not include the colored finish used on the collectible editions. It will carry the same Teatro Nacional design and circulate gradually through the national financial system as a regular ₡25 coin.
For those who are collectors, the release is a small but notable piece of Costa Rican cultural news: a low-denomination coin that also serves as a pocket-sized tribute to one of our country’s most important public buildings. This marks the end of the Central Bank’s seven-province series and the final chance to buy a new coin from the set at official release price.
