Pair of April 1 1933 Depression Scrip notes, $1 and $5, Atlantic County NJ Grades NG. Depression scrip was a product of the Great Depression, a result of rampant bank closures and civilian bank runs causing a lack of circulating currency in the early to mid 1930s. In order to plug the gap, local currencies came into significant circulation again for the first time since the civil war (and prior to that, the colonial era). Hundreds of forms of depression scrip existed, in both paper currency and circulating coins/tokens. They could be issued by municipalities, county governments, corporations or banking institutions.