A nice collector's piece if I do say so myself. Very unusual. When I saw them I had to have them. From the Pilot Rock Commercial Association in Pilor Rock Oregon. #281
Very interesting concept. Instead of backing your money by gold or silver, you back it by wheat or food. I don't necessarily think that is a good idea because wheat goes bad, but it is still very interesting!
I "think" I get it...this works like an S&H Green Stamp book. You get 1¢ Wheat Script stamps (from somewhere). Once you fill the script with twenty (20) stamps (boxes on reverse) and cancel them with your initials, the script is traded for 50¢ worth of wheat. By the end of 1933, if you had any stamp-filled script left, you had three months to trade them in for cash. A great snapshot in time!
My Mom collected them all through the '60s. They actually had S&H Green Stamp stores where you would go to redeem your books for small appliances and such.
The actual directions for use and redemption are printed on the back side. You would make a purchase and attach a stamp in the block areas. Once filled it was worth fifty cents.
It was called Depression Scrip, and it was issued by communities all over the country. There are hundreds if not thousands of different issues. The standard reference was written by Ralph Mitchel and Neil Schafer was published by Krause Publications back in 1985. (Standard Catalog of Depression Scrip) It ran some 316 pages and lists issues from all 50 states Canada and Mexico. The scrip mainly came into existence due to Roosevelts Bank Holiday in 1933 which cut people off from their money and resulted in a shortage of cash in most communities. The scrip was a local way to combat the problem and it continued for some time afterward. There was similar scrip issued during the panic of 1907. Catalog # for the OP note is OR286-.50 Pilot Rock issued 4 different pieces of scrip a 25 cent, 50, and $1 in paper and a $1 note in leather.
