Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Cents - Food Stamp Scrip El Cambio
| Issuer | U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Plain light green scrip printed in black letterpress, divided into a grid of bordered panels. The denomination '10¢' appears in bold at each corner; vertical side panels carry rotated 'Food Stamp Program / Certificate of Credit' text. A red rubber store stamp reading 'EL CAMBIO' is applied to the central field above the 'Store Stamp' designation line. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Entirely unprinted light green paper, blank on all surfaces, with faint bleed-through of the obverse red store stamp visible near the centre. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
USDA food stamp scrip occupied a genuinely odd corner of American monetary history. The El Cambio designation identifies this as one of the bilingual coupon booklets introduced in the 1960s and 1970s to serve Spanish-speaking recipients in border regions and urban Hispanic communities — a practical concession to the reality that monolingual English instructions were failing a significant portion of the program's intended users.
The 10-cent denomination was the smallest unit in the scrip series, issued to make change when a food purchase fell below a full dollar coupon value. Retailers were obligated to accept them; most hated handling them.