15 Cents Ohio Sales Tax Receipt

Ohio introduced its sales tax in 1934, and the receipt token system — paper scrip issued in fractional denominations to account for the tax on small purchases — was one of several competing solutions states adopted to handle the impracticality of calculating exact tax fractions at the point of sale. Most states ultimately abandoned paper tax receipts in favor of metal tokens; Ohio's paper system was short-lived for exactly that reason.

The watermark is the notable feature here. For a piece of fiscal scrip intended for single-transaction use, the security investment suggests the state took counterfeiting seriously from the outset.