First time seeing WWII OPA Tokens in hand 1 1

[Lem E]

A friend I work with knows I am into coins and brought in his grandfathers old coin and paper collection for me to look at. The collection is mainly well circulated coins from the 40s and some coins from early 1900s with a few pre 1900 coins. Mostly US coins and a few world coins in the mix. Wheat cents, IHCs, a few Barbers, a Morgan, 2 cent, shield nickel, lots of V nickels, etc. Mostly coins from WWII era. Nothing too extraordinary, but still neat to look at and actually get to hold in my hand. Two things in particular caught my attention. First was the Japanese government Peso currency from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. I thought Japanese Peso seemed strange, so I did a little research and learned a little about them.  The second were the OPA (Office of Price Administration) Rationing tokens. One blue and one red. I found these the most interesting pieces in the collection. I kind of knew what they were but never really knew much so I did a little more digging on them. Used during WWII along with the stamps for food. Blue for processed foods and red for meats and fats. I haven't had the opportunity to see very many personal collections and don’t really get to see things I don’t collect myself. These things are small (dime size) and very lightweight and a little hard to handle for me. (I dropped both of them at least once) I just thought it was cool to hold those pieces of history in my hands and learn a little more about them. It is one thing to see pictures of things, but quite different when you are actually holding that history. Learning the history is one of the best parts about this hobby. I didn't post the other side because they look the same on both sides. Anyway, just thought I would share that experience. Thanks for looking.

[RWB]

"Blue" points were exchanged for oysters, and "Red" points were exchanged for herring.....Well, that's what the internet says.

Here's a short explanation: https://bobstokens.com/the-history-of-opa-tokens/

Here's ANA's article: https://www.money.org/collector/user_66708/blog/a-guide-to-ww2-opa-tokens-an-obscure-section-of-numismatics

Here's Wikkidoodle's version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Price_Administration

[Lem E]

On 4/30/2022 at 8:44 PM, RWB said:

"Blue" points were exchanged for oysters, and "Red" points were exchanged for herring.....Well, that's what the internet says.

Here's a short explanation: https://bobstokens.com/the-history-of-opa-tokens/

Here's ANA's article: https://www.money.org/collector/user_66708/blog/a-guide-to-ww2-opa-tokens-an-obscure-section-of-numismatics

Here's Wikkidoodle's version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Price_Administration

Thank you for the links. Quite interesting info.

[Just Bob]

I picked up a few years ago to go with my ration booklets, tax tokens, and food stamp tokens. I still run across them in dealer bins and albums from time to time. A cool little piece of history. Thanks for sharing.

[DWLange]

I don't collect the tokens, but I have some old coin boards made for their collecting.

[Hoghead515]

Wonder if you had a choice on what color you got due to what you prefer to eat? I find things like that interesting. This could be a topic I could research further. 

[thebeav]

I sold a complete box of 'reds' not too long ago on the bay. When I was a kid, that box was the go-to toy when I visited my grandma. There is a letter combination that's a bit scarcer, but I don't think there are any that are particularly valuable. The blues are a little scarcer than the reds.

Edited May 2, 2022 by thebeav

[DWLange]

The color distinctions had to do with the nature of the food. One was for meat and the other was for non-meat products, I believe. The tokens were used to make change for ration coupons and could be exchanged for the latter when enough had accumulated.

[Conder101]

Yes the tokens were for making change.  In the early years of rationing the stamps were worth a set amount of points but items purchased  were often for a fewer number of points and there was no way to make change, so you just lost those points when you made a purchase.

On 5/2/2022 at 6:46 AM, thebeav said:

There is a letter combination that's a bit scarcer, but I don't think there are any that are particularly valuable. The blues are a little scarcer than the reds.

There are two letter combinations that have some value.  The red MM and the red MV.  The MM is relatively low value in the $5 - $10 range.  The MV can easily go for around $100.  When I first started collecting the OPA tokens there were only 24 MV tokens known.  More have turned up over the years and today there are probably 150 - 200 of them.  The blur tokens are a little scarcer and there are four blue tokens with combinations that start with W that are a little tougher, but not so much as to command a serious premium.

 

Edited May 2, 2022 by Conder101

[Fenntucky Mike]

Love those OPA tokens, they are a blast to collect and won't break the bank. I just read a Coin World article about them that was pretty good, I'll PM you. 

JIM (Japanese Invasion Money) notes are also a very popular collecting area, in addition to the coins.

[James at EarlyUS.com]

And to think that I gave away numerous examples thinking they had no meaningful value!