1 Cent - Food Stamp Scrip Harlem River Co-op

Food stamp scrip of this type was issued by consumer cooperatives in Harlem during the mid-twentieth century as a way to manage small change within a closed purchasing system — federal food stamps carried no coin equivalent, so fractional scrip filled the gap. The Harlem River Co-op was among several community-run groceries operating under cooperative principles in upper Manhattan, and these 1-cent denominations were the most easily lost and discarded, making intact survivors genuinely uncommon.