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1 Cent - Allen's Market Chicago, Illinois
| Issuer | Allen's Market |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1785-date) |
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| Obverse description | Yellow paper with an ornate letterpress border of guilloche scrollwork and fan patterns. Denomination circles marked "1c" occupy each corner. At centre left, a vignette of a balance scale within a circular frame; to its right, a faint underprint of the Statue of Liberty. Inscriptions in black and red identify the issuer and redemption terms. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 1C 1C FOOD STAMP CREDIT SLIP Redeemable Only in Eligible Foods at ALLEN'S MARKET 700 EAST 43RD STREET Chicago, Ill. ONE CENT Not Redeemable in U.S. Currency ONE CENT CREDIT SLIP 1C 1C |
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| Comments |
Allen's Market was among hundreds of American retailers that issued small-denomination paper scrip during the early 1930s, when acute coin shortages — driven by hoarding at the onset of the Depression — made it genuinely difficult to make change. These merchant fractional notes circulated hyperlocally, typically redeemable only at the issuing store, and most were destroyed once federal emergency coin supplies stabilized or the issuing business closed.
Chicago examples are harder to document than scrip from smaller markets, largely because urban turnover was high and few merchants kept redemption records. Allen's Market itself leaves almost no paper trail outside the scrip itself.