Costa Rican peso Costa Rican peso The peso was the currency of Costa Rica between 1850 and 1896. It was initially subdivided into 8 "reales" and circulated alongside the earlier currency, the real, until 1864, when Costa Rica decimalized and the peso was subdivided into 100 "centavos". The peso was replaced by the colón at par in 1896 In 1850, silver coins were issued in denominations of , ⅛ and ¼ peso. In 1864, silver coins were introduced in denominations of 25 centavos and 1 peso. These were followed the next year by cupro-nickel ¼ and 1 centavos and silver 5, 10 and
Free silver standard which had been the hallmark of the Cleveland administration to the free-silver position epitomized by 1896 presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan in his Cross of Gold speech. Bryan's 1896 candidacy was supported by Populists and "silver Republicans" as well as by most Democrats. The issue was over what would back the US currency. The two options were: "gold" (wanted by the Goldbugs and William McKinley) and "silver" (wanted by the Silverites and Bryan). Unbacked "paper" (wanted by the Greenbacks) represented a third option. A fourth option, currency backed by "land value", was advocated by Senator Leland Stanford through several