1 Cent - Food Stamp Scrip Wakin Bros.

Food stamp scrip of this type was a byproduct of a specific federal quirk: U.S. food stamp regulations once required retailers to make change for purchases, but federal currency couldn't legally be used for that purpose when the transaction originated with food stamps. Small-denomination paper scrip — redeemable only at the issuing store — was the practical workaround, and dozens of independent supermarkets across the country printed their own. Wakin Bros. was among them.

These pieces circulated in genuinely small quantities, were rarely saved, and most were redeemed quickly and discarded. Survivors are scarcer than their modest face value suggests.