1 Cent - Pioneer New York, New York

Pioneer Supermarkets operated a chain of grocery stores concentrated in New York City's working-class neighborhoods, and like many regional retailers in the mid-twentieth century, issued fractional paper scrip to handle change-making inefficiencies at the register. These small-denomination notes functioned as internal currency redeemable only at Pioneer locations — a closed-loop system that kept customers returning to the same stores.

Paper cent scrip of this type was never legal tender and had no value outside the issuing chain. Survival rates are low simply because nobody had a reason to save a 1-cent slip of paper.