Is a OPA coin worth anything?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Jace, Jul 17, 2017.

  1. Jace

    Jace New Member

    An opa point was used in WWII and I just got a red point in the mail from eBay, a red/blue point is roughly worth 2 dollars. President Roosevelt issued the OPA that issued the tokens for rationing food during the war.
     
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  3. Galen59

    Galen59 Gott helfe mir

  4. Pickin and Grinin

    Pickin and Grinin Well-Known Member

    Cool, would really like to see it!
     
  5. Treashunt

    Treashunt The Other Frank

  6. Oldhoopster

    Oldhoopster Member of the ANA since 1982

    I don't believe they're worth very much. Back in the 70's and 80's, I would always see loads of these in junk boxes
     
  7. Jace

    Jace New Member

    Yeah, but they are still a cool token. I do know they're cheap on eBay.
     
  8. ziggy9

    ziggy9 *NEC SPERNO NEC TIMEO*

    Most are worth very little but there is one red token that is very rare and usually sells for about $100 I can't remember the letter combo right now. I will try to post it later
     
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  9. Jace

    Jace New Member

    Ok thanks!
     
  10. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    The blue tokens are a little better than the red tokens, especially to ones with check letters that start with W, but they still aren't worth much, maybe a dollar or so. There are two red tokens that are worth a little, the MM (maybe $5 if it is a nice one) and the MV which is $75 to $100. When I first learned about OPA tokens there were only about 24 MV tokens known. More have shown up since then but they are still rare.
     
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  11. Steve Reid

    Steve Reid New Member

    Just got a red one in great condition with the letter s YH
     
  12. Linda McAndrew

    Linda McAndrew New Member

    I have a coin purse from World War II that my grandfather had put in his ration tokens. We have about 10 blue ones and about 100 red ones. 5 MM's and 1 MC and ! MV. The blue ones are TX, XY, HY, TV,HH,WH, VV.I wonder if they are worth any money.
     
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  13. eddiespin

    eddiespin Fast Eddie

    Excellent! I love these. We've got a few passed down in my family, too. Let's see them, Linda. And I want to see that coin purse, too. This isn't the time to be bashful. With a hundred of these, what are you trying to do, corner the market? Lol. :)

    EDIT: FWIW, they sell, but not for a real lot. Some are scarcer than others, of course. I personally have never come across a complete set of every OPA issue.
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2018
  14. eddiespin

    eddiespin Fast Eddie

  15. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    Double check that MC, there's no such combination known. The only two combinations that start with M are MM and MV. You did get lucky though if you have the MV like I said last year that's going to be at least $75-$100. Assuming it's in decent condition.
     
  16. Marylee

    Marylee New Member

    I have a MM red, YC red, XC red and WW blue ALL IN GREAT CONDITION!
     
  17. redopas

    redopas New Member

    I just came across 845 red opas and have not looked through them yet I did already noticed a few that were off set a little. edited
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 31, 2018
  18. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    If you have that many it is a good idea to watch for errors. You can find clips, blanks, double and triple images, "saddle strikes" and "off-centers". OPA tokens weren't made in the same way that coins are, they used sheets of the fiberboard and then impressed the design into the fiberboard. The boards then went through the blanking press and the tokens were punched out. If the board was misaligned or didn't feed properly it created errors. The only "striking" errors are the double and triple image pieces which were the result of the board misfeeding in the press and being printed more than once. the "saddle strikes and "off centers" are the result of errors in the blanking press.
     
  19. misty black

    misty black New Member

    i have reds yc ty vc th
     
  20. George McClellan

    George McClellan Active Member

    CT-searched "OPA Tokens". "OPA" is too short a word for CT-search.
    The following URLs contain info actual "in-store moment of use".

    ...there are two different types red tokens and blue tokens. Each was worth one ration point. The tokens were used to "make change" for the fixed value stamps from your rationing book. Before they were issued, if you bought an item that required say 8 ration points and you gave them the stamp from your book which was worth 10 points, you lost those other two points. After they came out you would get the tokens in change and you could accumulate them and use them like the stamps.

    These ration booklets contained various small stamps which had no cash value, but were required to purchase food items — for example four "B" stamps for each pound of ground beef or five "A" stamps for a bag of sugar. All store items had a price marked as well as a ration book stamp requirement. So every purchase had to also include the right number of ration stamps.
    The price of the item was not a factor in the use of these stamps. However, to make exact change, shopkeepers were issued small red and or blue tokens. They were made of a vulcanized fiber and were 16-mm in diameter. These basically were "small change" for stamps from ration books.

    https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/soltaylor080908.html
    https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/443870/opa-tokens
     
  21. JDF413

    JDF413 New Member

    I’ve got one that reads x u , any idea if that’s a rare one? I can’t find one online
     
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