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When Michael J. Whelihan sees a banknote, he sees detail and history where most people just see money to pay the taxi. The U.S. Army retiree in Escazú has a collection of Costa Rican paper money that ranges from an 1864 El Banco Anglo 100-peso note to the 10,000-colon puma in daily circulation today. And in the course of his collecting and study in Costa Rica, he found a 20-colon note printed in 1906 for the Banco de Costa Rica that was not listing in the world literature. It is now. The detail is there is you know where to look and are prepared to do a little research. Take, for example, the five-colon note the vendors frequently try to sell at tourist locations around town. This note is well-known because it is very colorful and bears the likeness of a painting in the Teatro Nacional on the reverse side. The bill has at least two printing errors, including a mistaken initial of the painter who produced the theater mural. A rarer version of the bill, worth now about $25, bears the name "T Villa," instead of the correct "J Villa." On other bills the date of 1983 is incorrectly rendered at 1933, perhaps due to a weak printing impression, said Whelihan. The Escazú resident moved to Costa Rica after he retired from the U.S. Army and became interested in banknote collecting. The Internet now allows him to converse with collectors all over the world. Whelihan’s goal is to collect paper money from as many of 304 different countries, past and present, that issued paper currency since the 1600s. He has large looseleafs filled with plastic pages and money. His collection is indexed on his computer. He is in the process of selling some of his Costa Rican specimens to generate money for further collecting. As a collector, he likes older, more ornate banknotes, especially those with low serial numbers, even though some older bills have |
A.M. Costa Rica photo
. . . and the bill he 'found'
generic art work provided to a number of
His oldest bill, the El Banco Anglo, actually is a printer’s proof produced by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co. in London. The bill obviously is a proof because it has not been signed by the appropriate officials. Former President Oscar Arias also worked his way into currency trivia when he was president of the board of directors of the Banco Central de Costa Rica. His signature appears on a number of bills released in 1972, mainly the colorful five-colon note, A 20-colon note and a 100-colon note from the same period. Such money is prized, perhaps because of the success of Arias as a president and because he won the Nobel Prize for Peace after he engineers a Central American peace plan in 1987. |
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The last cruise ship line to offer trips starting in Costa Rica has eliminated the service for the coming year. That was the word Monday from a representative of Holland American Line, a company that used to fly passengers from the United States to board a cruise ship at the Pacific port of Caldera for a run to Florida. The agent said that the firm decided to board its passengers in the United States, in part because some feared flying internationally after the Sept. 11 U.S. terrorist attacks. At one time two to three companies originated trans-Panama Canal trips from Costa Rica, said Larry Sharer, general sales agent here for Holland America. Other cruise lines pulled out at least a year ago because of concern about passenger comfort at the spartan Caldera docks. The port did not lend itself to processing departing passengers, he said. Holland America ran its last Costa Rica-to-Ft. Lauderdale trip in January, Sharer said. During 2002 the cruise ship company will offer more U.S. homeport cruises, he added. Although the bulk of the passengers on the one-way run were from the United States, residents in Costa Rica had the option of booking a trip. Now they will have to fly to one of the embarkation points in the United States. Holland America continues to visit Caldera |
and Limón on the Caribbean,
but the stops represent intermediate ones where new passengers do not board.
In the past Holland American offered the Caldera-Panama Canal-Florida run for six months of the year, October through March, said Sharer. The trips were offered for three years, and the route was a success, he added, because the ships were filled up each time. The giant ships carry about 1,300 passengers each. The change in schedule represents a decrease in tourism income for Costa Rica because passengers who flew here went through one of two international airports, usually stayed at a hotel and used ground transportation to arrive at the docks. Now the passengers just get off the ships for sightseeing. Sharer did have a travel tip for expats here who might be considering a cruise. He said due to Holland American marketing efforts, a cruise from any port, including those in the United States, costs at least 10 percent less if the trip is booked here instead of through an agent in North America. The company has reduced rates here as a way of building Latin American business. Sharer’s firm, which represents Holland America, is Representantes Internacionales de Cruceros Holland America Line is a major player in the cruise business. The firm will offer 360 sailings from15 North American homeports in 2002. |
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