The Illusive Red Cent

I WANT THAT CAR.

Finally found something you guys didnt know!

"A red cent was a paper token, colored red. During WWII they were used for change in return for rationing coupons". A few are still around but cant find mine. If I went back home to upstate PA I know someone who has many of them. They were a heavy cardboard, round, about the size and thickness of a dime and perforations about the size of a pinhole. And they were red. Didn't you WWII era guys ever hear the saying "Not worth a Red Cent". Couldn't buy penny candy with them. Always got "Red Cents" from my Uncles. Now I know why. They couldn't spend them in the Bars. I will try my best to get an image of one. Always wondered why these are not a highly collectible item!


edgman

Bad picture?

Looks Maroon to me (and I know reds... the only color that I can pass art with [I'm young enough that last year was the last year I was forced to do Middle School Art... I hated it] [other than grayscale!])

A "Red Cent"

The price of the item was not a factor in the use of the Ration stamps. However, to make exact change, shopkeepers were issued small red and or blue coins or tokens. They were made of a vulcanized fiber and were 16-mm in diameter. These basically were "small change" for stamps from ration books.
The blue tokens had a value of one point and had two letters and read "OPA Blue Point 1." There are 24 different letter combinations known for the blue tokens. The red cents


similarly read "OPA Red Point 1" and came in 30 different letter combinations. Some products required red cents in change while other products required blue tokens as change.
These cents were issued from 1942 to 1945 when rationing ended. The letters seem to have had no specific meaning and were apparently random.
On various price lists, the blue tokens sell for 80 cents and the red cents for 40 cents. The few scarcer letters sell for $2 and $4. Error pieces â€" usually off-center or double-struck pieces â€" are more valuable, with prices shown online of $2.50 to $6 for off-center pieces and $5 to $6.50 for double-struck pieces. On ebay, groups of such tokens often sell for less than 10 cents each.

"Thats all folks"

edgman

I always hear my grandmother talk about things not being worth a red cent. Now I understand! Thanks!

How many natural red heads have red hair?

I have a couple of the blue chips. I thought they came out of soap powder for some reason. ( was there something like coupons in soap boxes? Or did I kill too many brain cells in my younger days?) nice to know what they are now :)

OPA stands for Office of Price Administration... Rationing began in 1942, but OPA's weren't issued until 1944. Rationed items included canned goods, meats, sugar, coffee, tires, gas, silk stockings....

The OPA coins (commonly called OPAs) were used as change for food. OPAs were used by retailers to give change back for food bought with ration stamps.
The blue tokens were used for processed foods; red tokens for meats and fats.