25 Cents Fort Clayton; Canal Zone

Fort Clayton's NCO Open Mess scrip was part of a broader military payment system used across U.S. installations in the Canal Zone, where dollar-denominated scrip helped limit currency flow to and from the local Panamanian economy. The 1964 Flag Riots — which left over twenty dead and accelerated the eventual treaty negotiations that would end American control of the Zone — did nothing to interrupt scrip issuance; Fort Clayton continued operating normally through that period.

The grey paper stock is consistent across the Fort Clayton mess scrip series, likely a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure at the production level.