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The History of Cone Dollars
Learn about Cone dollars created in the early 1930's
In the early to mid-1930s, Disney, with the help of merchandising executive Herman “Kay” Kamen, offered an item called Mickey Mouse Cones which were paper bills used in exchange for ice cream. This was at a time when Walt was looking for ways to promote the Disney brand. Several years later bills that resembled dollar bills were produced by Southern Dairies, which was another Disney licensee. They were produced in several versions of red, green, orange, and blue and came in denominations of 1, 5, and 10 cents.
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The first "Mickey Mouse Cone Bills" were issued in 1933 by Kay Kamen so ice cream cones could be awarded at the Mickey Mouse Club theatre meetings on Saturday afternoons. Originally, the bills were awarded at the theater Mickey Mouse Club meetings on Saturday afternoons as part of a promotion to give away 1 million ice cream cones. The 4 colors these dollars came in each were more collectible than the prior. When researching these bills, you may run into some items that hold similarities to the Disney Dollars that we know today. Promotion beginning in 1933 that offered a "Mickey Mouse Cones" bill so children could get ice cream at their local Mickey Mouse Clubs, thus promoting Mickey Mouse and Southern Dairies Ice Cream. There exist, what appears to be, red/purple/magenta, blue/green and orange. There were denominations of $ 1 , $ 5 , and $ 10 .
The History of the Cone Dollar
From the early years to when used by department stores for advertising. See how the Cone dollars came to be and changed over the 1930s as one of the early Disney Notes.
The Early Years
1933 - 1936 "Cone Dollars"
Cone dollars came in Denominations of $1, $5 and a $10 cents.
The four colors of Mickey Mouse Cone Dollars
1933 Red Cone One Cent
1933 Green Cone One Cent
1933 Orange Cone One Cent
1933 Blue Cone One Cent
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Mickey Mouse Blue One Cent
Mickey Mouse Blue Five Cent
Mickey Mouse Blue Ten Cent
The first "Mickey Mouse Cones" were issued in 1933. The bills had no monetary value despite the denomination but could be exchanged for an ice cream cone at the Mickey Mouse Club theater. The bills were awarded at the Mickey Mouse Club meetings held in participating theaters on Saturday afternoons as part of a promotion to give away 1 million ice cream cones.
The 'Mickey Mouse Cones' were issued with a 1-cent denomination in the four colors shown below. The most common is the red/magenta/purple color followed by the green. The blue and orange bills are incredibly rare.
After the Spingle Bell Chicko K bills, every version of Cone bills was issued by K-K Inc by permission of Walt Disney Enterprises Ltd as listed above the lower legend. The Cone bills are identifiable by the legend below the portrait of Mickey Mouse that reads 'Mickey Mouse Cones.'
The Next Edition
Southern Dairies Ice Cream Dollars
Southern Dairies version of the cone dollars
Southern Dairies One Cent
Southern Dairies Five Cent
Southern Dairies Ten Cent​
Southern Dairies Inc was a Washington DC company best known for "The velvet kind of ice cream." It had been growing since it opened in 1902 as Chapin-Sacks Corporation. In 1936, the Southern Dairies Company became a division of the National Dairy Products Corporation.
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The Southern Dairies Inc bills are identified by the lower legend that reads 'Southern Dairies Ice Cream.' They were denominated in 1, 5, and 10-cent bills. This iteration of Cone bills were only printed in the red/magenta/purple color.
The Department Store Edition
Blue Mickey Mouse Dollars
Mickey Mouse version of the cone dollars
Mickey Mouse Blue One Cent
Mickey Mouse Blue Five Cent
Mickey Mouse Blue Ten Cent
H. LEH & CO., of Allentown, PA, was a prominent department store that operated for over 140 years. They had their name printed on the back of the Cone bill. The value associated with the bill could be used in the store, unlike Cone bills that retained no monetary value. These were all printed in blue and were denominated in 1, 5 and 10-cent bills. Department store bills could be identified on the front lower legend as they simply read, "Mickey Mouse." There were bills printed without a store name on the back that could later be stamped by a particular store for use.
Click the link above to see our collection of cone dollars.
​If you would like to learn more about cone dollars and other Disney notes, purchase our price guide with the most up to date pricing and information.