Rare Federal Scrip to Help Kick-Off First CurrencyAuction.com™ Sale

An original perforated sheet of 12 coupons, plus two separate examples, will be featured in the Heritage auction. Their rich history begins in the Arab-Israeli tension of the early 1970s. Following its support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War of 1973-74, the United States was the victim of an oil embargo placed by the Middle East nations of OPEC on crude oil exports. In anticipation of a crippling fuel shortage, the Federal Energy Administration planned a gasoline-rationing system. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing hastily designed and printed the 1.5 inch by 3 inch ration coupons, borrowing George Washington's well-known portrait from the $1 bill.

When the energy crisis failed to materialize, the Department of Energy shipped the gasoline ration coupons to the Pueblo Army Depot in Colorado, where they remained in storage until the mid-1980s. In April 1984, Congressman Frank Annunzio learned that the Department of Energy planned to destroy the coupons. While two sheets were sent to the Smithsonian Institution and the National Archives, Annunzio was unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade the Federal government to sell the notes to collectors to help recover printing costs. The belief that Washington's portrait could fool certain vending machines into mistaking the coupons for dollar bills influenced Energy's decision. In mid-June 1984, the Federal government confirmed the destruction of the remaining coupons at the Pueblo Army Depot.

Or had they? Later that year, a few examples turned up at a coin show in Denver. Apparently, someone at the Pueblo Army Depot had liberated a limited number of coupons for the ultimate benefit of today's currency collectors. Later, habitues at a flea market in Colorado Springs offered a few more examples to dealers.

In 1985, the Secret Service learned of the existence of these survivors and seized two examples from a Beverly Hills dealer on the pretext that they were "contraband." The fifteen years that have elapsed since this incident, however, seem to have cooled the issue within government circles. Bidders in Heritage's first CurrencyAuction.com now have the unique opportunity to acquire these rare and historical ration coupons.

To register as a CurrencyAuction.com™ bidder, please visit http://www.currencyauction.com. For consignment information and/or general questions, please email consignment coordinator Holli Hughes at holli@heritagecoin.com, or call her at 1-800-USCOINS x 283 (24-hour voice mail).