Three little keepsakes from the time of FDR and World War II

[Mousetoescamper]

After my paternal grandmother died, nearly 40 years ago, I inherited her collections of costume jewelry, Christmas ornaments and knickknacks. Among the items was the case above which contained only a penny, a token and a campaign button. These were the only three items out of hundreds that were specific to World War II and FDR. The items were lying loose in the case. I arranged them as seen for the photo.

The campaign button was one of several designs issued for FDR’s 1940 Presidential campaign in which he was seeking an unprecedented third term.

The red coin is a US government Office of Price Administration (OPA) rationing token. During World War II canned goods, meats, sugar, coffee, tires, gas and other items were rationed, beginning in 1942. The OPA used stamps and tokens for rationing. The tokens were commonly called OPAs and were used by retailers as change for food bought with ration stamps. Red OPAs were used for meats and fats. There were also blue OPAs used for processed foods. The tokens were made of celluloid and were first issued in 1944. The OPA stopped issuing the tokens in 1945.

The penny is a 1944 Philadelphia wheat penny of which more than 1.4 billion were struck at the Philadelphia mint that year.