======================================================
MPC Gram
=======================================================
Series 001 Number 75 July 30, 2000
News and Views
The Nazi Konversionskasse (Conversion Office for German Foreign Debts) has been little understood or misunderstood for several decades. The "notes" have been well-known throughout that period but still misunderstood. Now we know that the notes were part of a bigger, multinational system that included bonds and "fractional certificates" too.
Steve Feller (sfeller@coe.edu) has been doing great research on the KK and the results appeared in Remembered, but there are still many mysteries and holes in our knowledge.
Most recently MPC Kid (harbons@aol.com) has been working on solving one of the little riddles about the notes. The notes use the tantalizing text "series" with a letter. The use of this text would seem to mean that it something more than a simple block letter. On the other hand, the serial numbers have only seven digits making for a maximum of 10 million notes (ok, purists 9,999,999) for each series so it would seem possible that the series is simply a block letter. It certainly is possible, even likely that far more notes were necessary so the block number theory is solid. This is certainly true for the low denominations. However, the only recorded 1000 mark denomination is from series F indicating that more than 50 million notes were printed (issued?).
This denomination is very rare. In spite of the high denomination, if that many pieces were printed/issued I believe that we would have seen more pieces in collections. So what is the story?
I do not know. Kid has started to record the block letters of the notes in an attempt to answer some of these questions (and I am sure to create some more questions). Here is his preliminary results. Please check your notes for series that he has no observed and send him the info. Of course updates will be posted here occasionally.
Issue without 1934 stamp
Denomination—letters seen
5—A E
10—A C D
30—A
40—A D
50—D
100—B
500, 1000 not reported
Issue with 1934 stamp
Denomination—letters seen
5—A E
10—B D
30—E
40—A
50—A B C D
100—A D
500 not reported
1000—F
[aside to Harold, I highly suggest that you keep a record of who reports each series until you have multiple reports of a combination because there are certain to be questions and some of them will be the result of erroneous reports or recording.]========================================================
Letters
Hey Fred,
If we didn't have to come back from paradise sometime, we'd never know
there was something to look forward to.
The MPC Gram name sounds just fine. It is readily identifiable and
nice & short.
Question/comment. there any reverse order collecting going on - like
76543210? Now, I realize that some of the numbers are too high for feasibility.
But there could be something like 000987654, etc.? I have never thought about the weird possibilities -- I've been too busy trying to find the ones in the
short & long set that I don't have. Now, since you mentioned it, I have started
looking at the scrip that I see in a different manner. Thanks for complicating my life -it is a good complication.
Hope your return from paradise isn't too traumatic.
rusty
Dear Rusty,
Paradise is a junk box, a long forgotten envelope of notes, a new variety, or a new serial number for the replacement survey!
Yes, there certainly is interest in "reverse" numbers. I should have mentioned this in the ladder discussion, but as you say, there are no real reverse MPC ladders but even 00654321 would be a nice find.
One of my own favorites in this area is the idea of finding the very LAST number for a note, the inverse of serial number one. This is MUCH harder to find. There was little motivation at the time of issue to save this note (compared to the number 1) and it is not recognizable to collectors without a book.
Phil Goldstein has started a survey to find the highest reported SN for each issue of MPC. I think that this is important research, first because it might help us find some discrepancies or give us some insight to number of notes ISSUED as opposed to printed. The other thing is that it may help us find a last note.
Editor
How about Mil-Gram? Covers all military, MPC and everything in between. Or Mil-Mail? Nah! I like Mil-Gram better but you will most likely come up with
something better.
Neil S.
Dear Mr. S.,
Perhaps mil E gram, or mil-graEm? More thoughts and ideas are still needed. Thanks for writing.
Editor
========================================================
Calendar
In this section we will highlight MPC chat, MPC Fest, and MPC gram events. Other events will be mentioned as they get close. For planning purposes see the papermoneyworld.com calendar of events.
The next major show is the American Numismatic Association Convention (August 9-13). This year the convention will be in Philadelphia. 25 years ago the ANA convention was one of the major events for paper money. Now with the development of so many successful paper money shows (and of course the MPC Fest), its importance has diminished, but it is still an important show. Because it is such a big and important show, you cannot help but find some good paper there. Marv Mericle's great MPC collection will NOT be on display as promissed because of family and administration problems. We are certainly sorry to hear about that, but hope that all goes well with Marv and that we will see the exhibit again soon.
I will be there the entire time and will be pleased to chat MPC with you!
====================================================
Trading post
Your classified advertisement for items for sale will be run here for free. Send your ads to the gram.
following items for free on a first come, first served basis:11 6 month subscription coupons for world coin news available and two 6 Month subscriptions to BNR. Contact Dave at coinman@rochester.rr.com.
---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites.
--0-1025202362-964975661=:20064
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
======================================================
MPC Gram
=======================================================
Series 001 Number 75 July 30, 2000
News and Views
The Nazi Konversionskasse (Conversion Office for German Foreign Debts) has been little understood or misunderstood for several decades. The "notes" have been well-known throughout that period but still misunderstood. Now we know that the notes were part of a bigger, multinational system that included bonds and "fractional certificates" too.
Steve Feller (sfeller@coe.edu) has been doing great research on the KK and the results appeared in Remembered, but there are still many mysteries and holes in our knowledge.
Most recently MPC Kid (harbons@aol.com) has been working on solving one of the little riddles about the notes. The notes use the tantalizing text "series" with a letter. The use of this text would seem to mean that it something more than a simple block letter. On the other hand, the serial numbers have only seven digits making for a maximum of 10 million notes (ok, purists 9,999,999) for each series so it would seem possible that the series is simply a block letter. It certainly is possible, even likely that far more notes were necessary so the block number theory is solid. This is certainly true for the low denominations. However, the only recorded 1000 mark denomination is from series F indicating that more than 50 million notes were printed (issued?).
This denomination is very rare. In spite of the high denomination, if that many pieces were printed/issued I believe that we would have seen more pieces in collections. So what is the story?
I do not know. Kid has started to record the block letters of the notes in an attempt to answer some of these questions (and I am sure to create some more questions). Here is his preliminary results. Please check your notes for series that he has no observed and send him the info. Of course updates will be posted here occasionally.
Issue without 1934 stamp
Denomination—letters seen
5—A E
10—A C D
30—A
40—A D
50—D
100—B
500, 1000 not reported
Issue with 1934 stamp
Denomination—letters seen
5—A E
10—B D
30—E
40—A
50—A B C D
100—A D
500 not reported
1000—F
[aside to Harold, I highly suggest that you keep a record of who reports each series until you have multiple reports of a combination because there are certain to be questions and some of them will be the result of erroneous reports or recording.]========================================================
Letters
Hey Fred,
If we didn't have to come back from paradise sometime, we'd never know
there was something to look forward to.
The MPC Gram name sounds just fine. It is readily identifiable and
nice & short.
Question/comment. there any reverse order collecting going on - like
76543210? Now, I realize that some of the numbers are too high for feasibility.
But there could be something like 000987654, etc.? I have never thought about the weird possibilities -- I've been too busy trying to find the ones in the
short & long set that I don't have. Now, since you mentioned it, I have started
looking at the scrip that I see in a different manner. Thanks for complicating my life -it is a good complication.
Hope your return from paradise isn't too traumatic.
rusty
Dear Rusty,
Paradise is a junk box, a long forgotten envelope of notes, a new variety, or a new serial number for the replacement survey!
Yes, there certainly is interest in "reverse" numbers. I should have mentioned this in the ladder discussion, but as you say, there are no real reverse MPC ladders but even 00654321 would be a nice find.
One of my own favorites in this area is the idea of finding the very LAST number for a note, the inverse of serial number one. This is MUCH harder to find. There was little motivation at the time of issue to save this note (compared to the number 1) and it is not recognizable to collectors without a book.
Phil Goldstein has started a survey to find the highest reported SN for each issue of MPC. I think that this is important research, first because it might help us find some discrepancies or give us some insight to number of notes ISSUED as opposed to printed. The other thing is that it may help us find a last note.
Editor
How about Mil-Gram? Covers all military, MPC and everything in between. Or Mil-Mail? Nah! I like Mil-Gram better but you will most likely come up with
something better.
Neil S.
Dear Mr. S.,
Perhaps mil E gram, or mil-graEm? More thoughts and ideas are still needed. Thanks for writing.
Editor
========================================================
Calendar
In this section we will highlight MPC chat, MPC Fest, and MPC gram events. Other events will be mentioned as they get close. For planning purposes see the papermoneyworld.com calendar of events.
The next major show is the American Numismatic Association Convention (August 9-13). This year the convention will be in Philadelphia. 25 years ago the ANA convention was one of the major events for paper money. Now with the development of so many successful paper money shows (and of course the MPC Fest), its importance has diminished, but it is still an important show. Because it is such a big and important show, you cannot help but find some good paper there. Marv Mericle's great MPC collection will NOT be on display as promissed because of family and administration problems. We are certainly sorry to hear about that, but hope that all goes well with Marv and that we will see the exhibit again soon.
I will be there the entire time and will be pleased to chat MPC with you!
====================================================
Trading post
Your classified advertisement for items for sale will be run here for free. Send your ads to the gram.
following items for free on a first come, first served basis:11 6 month subscription coupons for world coin news available and two 6 Month subscriptions to BNR. Contact Dave at coinman@rochester.rr.com
Do You Yahoo!?
Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites.
--0-1025202362-964975661=:20064--