1 Cent - Hinky Dinky Omaha, Nebraska

Hinky Dinky was a regional grocery chain operating primarily across Nebraska and the surrounding Midwest, and this 1969 cent note is a piece of promotional scrip rather than government-issued currency — one of thousands of merchant coupon schemes that proliferated in American retail during the postwar decades. The chain used these small-denomination paper pieces as a change-making supplement, a common workaround during periods when the U.S. Mint struggled to keep cent coinage in adequate supply.

The 1960s coin shortage, driven partly by rising silver prices and hoarding, pushed retailers of all sizes toward internal scrip solutions. Hinky Dinky eventually sold its Nebraska operations to Homeland Stores in 1988.