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"Office
of Price Administration Tokens:
a Complete Pictorial Guide
Dear Friend,
I am very excited
to be sharing with you one of my interests, that of
collecting World War II OPA Tokens. My introduction
into collecting these little red and blue tokens is
interesting. While at a coin show in Pittsburgh, PA,
I was looking through many boxes of tokens when I
came across something interesting, about the size of
a dime. Needless to say I was intrigued by my latest
find, and just had to purchase it for the 10c they
were asking. Well, when I got home I researched this
new type of token that I had just acquired, it was a
ration token released during WWII. I later found out
that the OPA stood for Office of Price
Administration.
I have been collecting these for years, and have thousands of OPA tokens in my collection. I have completed two sets of these tokens, one in uncirculated condition and another in circulated. I cherish them because they relate to a time in history that we must never forget. During World War II, these tokens were used as a method to regulate or ration how much any given family could buy. This rationing was done because of the shortages that were caused due to the war effort. This being one of my interests, I searched and searched... only to find that there has been little published on the collecting of OPA Tokens. This gave me the idea that I could use my knowledge along with other information that I have found on the internet to produce a reference guide. I have assembled this booklet as a means to share with you a complete pictorial reference of the OPA Tokens that are available for collecting. Additionally, I have provided you with a checklist for your own collection. The Image
Resource…
The Checklist…
There are three
versions of the checklist that come with this
package. The first is in Microsoft
Excel format, the second is in Microsoft
Word format, and the third is in Adobe
PDF format. We made the spreadsheet
available in various formats in order to provide
you with the greatest control available over
tracking your collection of OPA Tokens.
"This Kindle book is a complete reference for OPA Tokens" Quick History
of the OPA:
Provided is a very nice summary of how the
OPA came into being, and their role in rationing
items during WWII. Introduction
to OPA Tokens:
A very informative article describing the
history of the OPA Tokens, and their connection with
America.
OPA "Red"
Tokens: A
complete pictorial review of all 30 "Red" OPA Tokens
- these are high resolution scans from uncirculated
tokens. OPA "Blue" Tokens: A complete pictorial review of all 24 "Blue" OPA Tokens - these are high resolution scans from uncirculated tokens. Token, Token, Who has a Token?: This is a really nice piece of commentary on how war rationing affected families throughout the United States. (Printed with permission of the family of Marguerite H. German).
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Once again, I
thank you for buying this copy of the "Office of
Price Administration Tokens: Complete Image Resource
& Checklist". I hope that it has helped you out
in your collecting adventures. This checklist has
made the tracking of my OPA Tokens a lot easier, I
am sure that you will also appreciate the time that
it saves you. Go forth and collect them all !!!
Thanks, Book Reviews Those who passionately
collect coins as a hobby will be delighted to learn
more about this little known set of tokens released
during the Second World War. The Office of Price
Administration (OPA) tokens were used in the early
1940s as a measure to balance local supply with
overseas demand. And as such, these tokens represent
that highly volatile period of American (and world)
history when the government had to control how much a
family can spend just to keep things under control for
the sake of the war effort. But unlike other types of
coins, OPA tokens are not exactly popular even among
the average collector. In fact, not very much is now
known about OPA tokens, and the author (Wayne Cekola)
relates discovering this type of token occurred out of
pure chance. Unlike our recent
wars, there was a time when all of America as a
Nation, was part of the sacrifice. In World War
II, Americans gladly sacrificed in the form of
rationing. World War II OPA Tokens (Office of
Price Administration) were used for as a method to
regulate or ration how much any given family could
buy. This rationing was done because of the shortages
that were caused due to the war effort. I had no idea that food and commodities were rationed during WWII. I like all types of history so this was a great read for me. I'm not too into coin collecting but this book is more than that. It's kind of a scary history lesson. What would you do if you only had a limited amount of food or clothes you could buy? If you are into history, WWII, coins, or just interested in something new, then this book is perfect for you. -
David Wolstenholm / Goodreads |
There are 30 tokens in
the OPA Red set. The known letter combinations are
HC, HT, MM, MV, TH, TY, UC, UH, UT, UV, UX, UY,
VC, VH, VT, VU, VX, VY, XC, XH, XT, XU, XV, XY,
YC, YH, YT, YU, YV, YX. Token MV is considered
Ultra Rare, and the key in the set. Token MM is
considered Rare, and is the second most important
token in the set. Tokens YC and XC are considered
Semi-Rare, and are slightly harder to find than
commons. All other Red Tokens are fairly common,
and should be easy enough to collect. All 30 Red
Tokens are scanned and pictured in this guide.
There are 24 tokens in
the OPA Blue set. The known letter combinations
are CC, CH, CT, CV, CX, HH, HU, HV, HX, HY, TC,
TT, TU, TV, TX, UU, VV, WC, WH, WT, WU, WW, XX,
YY. Token WC is considered Ultra Rare, and the key
in the set. Token WW and WH are considered Rare,
and are the second most important tokens in the
set. Tokens WU and HX are considered Semi-Rare,
and are slightly harder to find than commons. All
other Blue Tokens are fairly common, and should be
easy enough to collect. All 24 Blue Tokens are
scanned and pictured in this guide.
