One site I found very useful and knowledgable is Token Bob's notes:
http://fantasticprices.com/token/opa.html
Here he has listed just what an OPA is. http://fantasticprices.com/token/opa.html
OPA - HISTORY & INFORMATION
• OPA stands for Office of Price Administration
• Rationing was first started in 1942. Items that were rationed include canned goods, meats, sugar, coffee, tires, gas and more.
• The Office of Price Administration used OPA stamps, coins and chits for rationing.
• OPA coins (commonly called OPAs) were used for change for food.
• OPAs were used by retailers to give change back for food bought with ration stamps.
• Blue tokens were used for processed foods; red tokens for meats and fats.
• OPAs were first issued in 1944
• Stopped being issued in 1945
• Nobody has found a true reason for the letters on the OPA's. Theories include, they are random; demographics; and prevention of counterfitting.
• Red letter combinations known. 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.
• Blue letter combinations known. CC, CH, CT, CV, CX, HH, HU, HV, HX, HY, TC, TT, TU, TV, TX, UU, VV, WC, WH, WT, WU, WW, XX, YY
• The rarest is the red MV. The next rarest are the blue WH and then red MM and the blue CX and WC. Then blue WW and XX. The rest are fairly easy to find. Reds are a lot more common than blues.
• Error OPAs are worth a little more. There is a good example at the end of this page.
• OPA tokens were used for rationing during World War II
• There are 30 different red tokens and 24 blue ones.
• They are all vulacanized fiber (celluloid) and 16mm in size.
• Blue ones read: OPA Blue Point 1 (with two different letters)
• Red ones read: OPA Red Point 1 (with two different letters)
The following is an example of an error OPAs. The pictures were sent to him by Dan Orbeck. As you can see OPAs can be struck, by mistake, more than one time. They are also not always centered when struck.
Then I found this site which was also very interesting and informative.
http://www.ameshistory.org/exhibits/events/rationing.htm
On this site, I could not find who or how to contact for permission to reference their information. Hopefully they or someone that knows them will stumble across my site and will give me permission to reference them.
One photo I found very interesting is their OPA ration book holder. How cool is this?
Of all the information I found, I could not find any site that lists Hawaii as being a part of the OPA token program. Most of the sites I did find and listed sell their tokens. Personally, I just study & collect them.
This is the information I found on Hawaii & OPA
Activities of the Office of Price Administration in the Territory of Hawaii. [n.p.]. 1944
United States. Office of Price Administration; World War, 1939-1945--Economic Aspects--Hawaii.
Melvin C. Robbins, Territorial Director. Reel: 19, No. 157
And also The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America Chapter IX of the 1943 Supplement Titles 32-50 War Production Board 903.41
https://books.google.com/books?id=e_GyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1409&lpg=PA1409&dq=Was+Office+of+Price+Administration+in+Hawaii&source=bl&ots=_HBjjrdRag&sig=RQFViVrNcJbppU11fNKrOO9eZ8o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAmoVChMI9u2O1OWXyAIVCqWICh0m7wPf#v=onepage&q=Was%20Office%20of%20Price%20Administration%20in%20Hawaii&f=false
Here is one of many other sites for the sale of OPA tokens called WWII militaria . org but according to this site, I cannot post their information. This is one of their issues. So I can only post general reference to their site. But they do have useful information. If asked, I will remove this information. Restrictions listed -
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