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.

[AllaN01Bear]

1. like .

[3auld6phart]

2. Fantastic

keepsakes A treasure for sure. :

[Mousetoescamper]

5. Thanks!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Those are just wonderful treasures, my dear Mousetoescamper!

Part of our history.

Thank you for sharing these with us!

[Mousetoescamper]

6. Thanks and you're welcome!

[3Hotdogs]

4. There were tokens and also stamps. Gas was also rationed and you got a sticker for your windshield for

the amount of gas you were allotted. Your allotment was dependent on your job classification, if you had a job.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Very cool!

When I was a kid, my Dad was cleaning out a box on his dresser and gave me two campaign buttons instead of throwing them away! One simply said "Ike" and the other was bigger with a photo of the nominees, said "Kennedy-Johnson." I think I know where they are. *sigh*

[Mousetoescamper]

8. Thanks! I have a McGovern/Shriver '72 button that I got while working for

the campaign in Loudon County, VA, one Saturday when I was in ninth or 10th grade. A friend's mother was big in the local party and roped us into volunteering. We collated handouts. We also got a bumper sticker, now long gone.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. Wow! That is extremely cool!

I do remember having a McGovern button, too - I bought it from a girl in school for a quarter, LOL. I'm not sure where it is, though.

And it's also cool that you started working on campaigns at such a young age. Kudos to your friend's Mom. When I was little, my Dad took me into the voting booth with him, held me up and had me push the levers. Of course he told me what levers to push, but I have no idea who I voted for. '

[Diamond_Dog]

10. Those things are totally cool. Such treasures!

I never knew there were rationing tokens! My sis has a booklet that belonged to my grandmother that shows what she bought with her ration stamps at the grocery store. Apparently the grocer hand wrote the item on each line.

I love old historical items like these.

[Mousetoescamper]

11. They aren't of much market value, but they are treasures nonetheless

The items aren't by any means rare. They're value is in the story they tell of my grandmother's personal history and its connection to our collective history. The objects have endured for 80+ years but their stories are falling by the wayside.

I'd love to have my grandmother's ration booklet. Your sister has a rare treasure.