3 Dollars - Bateman Tavern Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Chippewa Falls has a minor but genuine place in American brewing history — home to the Leinenkugel Brewery since 1867 — and bar scrip from the region carries that working-class tavern culture directly into paper form. This piece is private merchant scrip, issued by a specific named establishment rather than any banking or governmental authority, placing it firmly in the tradition of Depression-era and postwar tavern tokens and trade notes that circulated as informal credit within a regular clientele.

No federal authorization, no reserve backing. The note's value existed entirely on the goodwill between the issuer and whoever accepted it.