@dorado, yes those new pics are really nice--there are definitely some anomalies with the letters as you noted, at least in comparison to the numista pics (of a '78 coin):
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2603.htmlHowever, in digging more deeply, I see that the coinfacts website shows that oddly shaped E on a '72 coin:
http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/C..._50_centimosAdditionally, the allnumis website shows not only that odd E, but perhaps a tiny die chip in the letter R:
https://www. (168) Not Allowed - Auto-Removed com/coins-catalog/costa-rica/republic-1971-1980/50-centimos-1972-1479
I'm thinking that there were some minor design variations, perhaps because the '72 was minted in Guatemala, but the '78 was minted in Germany.
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-----Ghanaian proverb
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