¼ Cent - Jackson County Illinois

Depression-era scrip issued by local chambers of commerce was common across the United States in the early 1930s, when coin shortages and bank failures left communities improvising their own fractional currency. Murphysboro is the seat of Jackson County in southern Illinois — a coal-mining region hit particularly hard during the Depression. Small-denomination cardboard scrip like this quarter-cent piece was intended for local retail circulation only, redeemable through participating merchants.

Cardboard examples survive in varying condition; the material is prone to edge splits and moisture damage, and genuinely crisp pieces are harder to locate than the larger paper scrip issues from the same period.