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| Issuer | United States Department of Agriculture |
|---|---|
| Year | 1995 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse is unprinted, presenting a plain cream-colored cotton paper surface with visible bleed-through of the obverse intaglio impression, including ghost images of the central vignette and border elements. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark, Security thread |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Food coupons issued under the federal Food Stamp Program were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing using the same intaglio-capable facility that produced U.S. currency — a deliberate choice meant to raise the cost of counterfeiting welfare instruments that had become targets almost from the program's modern relaunch in 1961. The Type II designation marks a mid-1990s revision to the security architecture of the series, incorporating a embedded thread in response to documented counterfeiting cases that had embarrassed USDA administrators throughout the late 1980s.
The Food Stamp Act of 2008 formally renamed the program SNAP, and electronic benefit transfer had already begun displacing paper coupons in most states well before that. Paper food stamps were fully phased out by 2009, making surviving unissued examples the rule rather than the exception — used specimens are the genuinely scarce form.