USA WWII Ration Books

Here is a gallery of scans of War Ration Books. A lot of collectors have probably run into these, and they're interesting items. So I am including a scan of each book.

Now -- the big question I always get: what are these things worth?

Over a hundred million of each ration book were printed. Enough for everyone. As a result, the books generally sell for between $3 and $10 each, with higher prices for earlier books (Book One) with more stamps left inside. Book Two and Book Three are the most common, and fewer of their stamps were actually used, so they're more common with a lot of stamps remaining inside, and they get lower prices.

The individual ration stamps from these books can't be worth more than a few cents each. However, there are some private, military and limited-run ration stamps that are considerably more valuable; I have never seen a complete catalog of these. And, of course, other countries have issued ration stamps during times of crisis. 

--

Book #1 The complete front & back of the book are shown here, along with some samples of the stamps that came with the book.  Signed May 6, 1942. GPO document #16-26651-1.  

--


Book #2 is interesting in having an adhesive stamp from the Office of Price Administration. The complete front & back of the book are shown here, along with some samples of the stamps that came with the book.  Dated 1942. GPO document #16-30853-1. 

Sample stamps from Book Two:

--

By book #3, they've done away with the OPA adhesive stamp. Instead, the "Not valid without stamp" box appears to require a handstamp. The actual ration stamps are quite nice little designs. Dated 1943. GPO document #16-32299-1. 

Here are some of the individual stamps:

--


Book #4 is even simpler, but with an odd variety of ration stamps.  Dated 1943. GPO document #16-35570-1. 




This article ran on my stamp website for many years.  I am trying to get some of that content repackaged and back out where people can find it easily.


 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Germany Definitives: Historic Sites 1987-2004

Image
The Historic Sites Series is a long-running set of definitives from Germany, starting in 1987 and running through 2004.  Although the designs are mostly buildings, some statues are included.  The first series (Scott catalog #1515A-1540A) has 27 stamps from 5pf to 400pf values, all regular sheet stamps.  These are mostly of minimal values, but only the 280pf lists for over $2.  Keep an eye on the issues which include "Berlin" in the name.  Next there are 7 self-adhesives in the 1990s which are all $2 or more, and 23 more sheet stamps (#1838-1860) where the ones from 300pf to 720pf (the highest value in the whole series) are in the $2 to $6 range.  Nine of these are denominated in both pfennigs and euros.  This is followed by the last set of 18 from 2002-04 (#2199-2216) denominated in euros only, with die-cut self-adhesive coil and booklet stamps.  Here, the values over 1-euro are worth about $1.50 per euro. It's not a colorful series, using a lot of blue-gray and pale gree
Read more

Approaching Mixtures

Image
I always enjoyed buying worldwide mixtures on or off paper and sorting them out.  My first sort of a big mixture is usually by first letter of the country name, but sometimes I simply sort by continent first.  Since I am fascinated with postmarks, I often keep a pile of those on the side.  When sorting A to Z, having 26 piles would take up too much space, but there are some first letters that are hardly used at all, so piles like D-E, J-K, N-O, P-Q, U-Z just happen naturally.  This will still fit in two lids of bankers boxes, four rows of three piles in each lid.  I have always had cats, so it's easy to stack the lids and put them in the closet if I don't finish the sort in the first sitting. There is a general economics of getting a general world mix at maybe $180 per 10 pounds and ending up with some smaller amounts of much less common mixes.  Country-specific mixes always cost more on the source price lists, so maybe an ounce of Japan might sell for $6, and a really odd mix
Read more

Quick Intro - a Stamp Life

Image
My Dad got me interested in stamps when I was 6, so this year marks officially 50 years in the hobby for me.  My very first job was helping a stamp dealer in Port Jefferson Station (NY) price stamps for his shop -- I got paid about $15 in catalog value per hour, my pick.  Perfect.     I would get to see things like this India States issue... I started a mail order mixture company when I was a senior in high school (1984) and it moved with me over the years from CT to NY to California.  I got on eBay in 1996 and their computer algorithm booted me off as I was gearing up for a 20th anniversary promotion (long story).  I'm sure I have gone through 1000 pounds of mixtures over the years, made 20,000 lots for sale, got my eBay ranking up to almost 10,000 so I had at least that many sales ... as well as cataloging hundreds of collections for Lee Clark Stamps over 20 years.  So, I have seen a few million stamps. I still have a significant stash tucked away for a rainy day.  The biggest at
Read more