1 Cent - Buy & Save Foods Chicago, Illinois

Buy & Save Foods was a regional grocery chain operating in the Chicago area, and like many American retailers of the mid-twentieth century, it issued its own trade tokens and scrip to encourage customer loyalty and reduce cash handling at the register. These paper cent denominations functioned as change-makers — issued when exact coin change was unavailable or as promotional rebate slips redeemable on future purchases. The practice was common enough that it attracted little regulatory attention, operating in a gray area well below the threshold that concerned federal currency authorities.

Documentation on this issuer is thin, and precise dating is uncertain.