A look back at a collecting specialty – the O.P.A. ration tokens of WWII

The outbreak of the Second World War caused the American people to experience a shortage of goods even though they had the money to buy them. Not since the days when tradesman’s tokens were popular during the Civil War period have tokens been as widely circulated as the O.P.A. pieces during the conflict’s years.

The tokens at times were as important as money to consumers. The impact of these shortages reached a peak in Jan. 1943. At that time, the Office of Price Administration (O.P.A.) which was charged with handling the rationing program added meat and canned goods to the list of scarce commodities impacted by the war’s efforts.

War Ration Book Two was issued and it brought the “red point” and “blue point” terms into the public vernacular. The O.P.A. tokens were stamped fiber discs. They were red or blue and slightly smaller than a dime. Both colors bore the legend “O.P.A. Red Point” or “O.P.A. Blue Point” around the rim, with a star between each word and a large “I” flanked by two small letters in the center of each one.

The “one” in the outline form gives it a raised appearance, but it is flat. The O.P.A. was formed when Congress empowered the president to allocate commodities with the passage of the “Priorities and Allocation Act.” This power was extended by the “Second War Powers Act.” Except for selective service (the draft), the ration program probably had a greater impact on the civilian consciousness during the war than any other governmental measures.

Tokens were made for the O.P.A. by a contractor from Ohio. In total, some two billion tokens were issued, having various letter combinations such as HC, HT, CC, MM, TX, CH, WH, YY, and XX. Some of the letter combinations are scarcer than others. The rarest red and their values are the following letter combinations; MV and MM: MV is worth up to $150 and the MM is around $5 to $10. The remainder red tokens range from 50¢ to 75¢ and the set has a value of $160 - $180. As for the blue tokens, a complete set has a value in the range of $50 to $60 with WC and WH letter combinations being best. Finally, the numbers, values, and rarity were provided by Kenton V. Te Lindert, a well-known numismatist and exonumia collector who makes his home in Illinois.

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