From China “tallies”. These Lacquered Bamboo sticks known as tallies are carved, inked and or have inscriptions burned and pressed into them. These have been traced as issued back to the 1890’s and possibly earlier but known to be in use into 1929 and possibly later. These were issued by small banks or merchants which couldn’t issue their own banknotes. This example in Chinese says “One load of rice in husk” on the top and “Red Flag Commune” on the bottom.