Banco de la República (the Central Bank of Colombia) Highlights Colombian Biodiversity through the Design of the New Family of Coins

• A new COP$1,000 coin will begin circulating within the new family of coins.

• The new coins will reduce manufacturing costs compared to the current costs.

• Colombian coins will have new security features.

• The new and current coins will circulate simultaneously and both will be valid payment methods.

• The new COP$1,000, COP$500, COP$200, COP$100, and COP$50 have been designed based on a new concept: biodiversity and water as an invaluable heritage of Colombians. These images confirm Banco de la República’s interest in promoting and preserving our natural resources and sustainable development.

The theme of the new family of coins 

The designs include an image of a loggerhead turtle (COP$1,000), a glass frog (COP$500), a scarlet macaw (COP$200), and a spectacled bear (COP$50), representative animals of the diversity of Colombian fauna. In addition, the frailejón (COP$100), the representative plant of the Andean páramos, recalls that almost 80% of its ecosystem is in Colombia.

Johana Calle and José Antonio Suárez, two nationally and internationally recognized Colombian artists, were involved in these designs.

Features

The new coins have different security features, such as multilevel images, and, in the case of bimetallic COP$1,000 and COP$500 coins, such multilevel feature is in both alloys. Moreover, the COP$1,000 coin has a groove on the edge and an underlying image that, depending on the viewing angle, changes the word “MIL” (THOUSAND) to BRC (initials of Banco de la República de Colombia).