From: mpcgram-owner@papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 10:37 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1454 corrected--ignore the first one ------------------------ / MPC Gram News Letter / ----------------------- =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Vol 7, no 1454 Thursday April 20, 2006 DETECTING COUNTERFEIT MPC by Jim Downey Counterfeiters are an ingenious bunch. When a new issue of currency is released it seems that the counterfeiters are not far behind. At MPCFest VI Steve Swoish had a remarkable US Army CID file detailing a counterfeiting ring that operated in Italy involving MPC Series 471. Counterfeits of the MPC issued during the Vietnam War are also well documented. MPC Series 472 was issued in March 1948. EUCOM Weekly Directive No. 26 issued in July 1948 contained an extensive discussion on how to detect counterfeit $5.00 and $10.00 notes from Series 472. The text is excerpted in the EUCOM monthly bulletin for July 1948 as follows: The cooperation of all personnel and dependants is requested to stamp out the circulation of counterfeit military payment certificates in the European Command. The following information and advice is offered to help those interested, and it is requested that any information relative to counterfeits be reported to the nearest criminal investigation detachment for investigation. No technical experience is necessary to detect a counterfeit. Merely look at or study a genuine certificate occasionally to become more familiar with its appearance. One outstanding irregularity that can be recognized on a certificate will justify its classification as counterfeit and its detention and further examination by either the Finance Office, Provost Marshal, or the Criminal Investigations Division. Following are outstanding defects and imperfections which are readily visible to the naked eye which appear on counterfeit $5 and $10 certificates recently discovered in the zone. Good military payment certificates look good, while bad military payment certificates look bad. Counterfeit $5 certificates [Series 472]. Eagle on face of the certificate: The blue ink on the wings runs into the solid color and shows no refined engraving lines. The edges of the wings are blunt stubs, abruptly terminated, with no feather edges. The arrows clutched by the eagle’s left claw show solid blue. The arrows here are indistinct and crudely executed. No berries are visible on the branch clutched by the eagle’s right claw. Base of the eagle’s tail is solid blue and tail feathers are poorly executed. The vertical blue stripes on the eagle’s breast shield are a solid blue. The genuine certificate shows three separate blue lines. The fishnet design in the border is broken by irregular lines, leaving white blotches and showing an ashen gray color. The eagle on the back of the military payment certificate is crudely executed with poor engraving and blotchy printing. The vertical stripes of the breast shield on the eagle are solid brown with no rulings. Defects are generally similar to those on the face of the certificate. Counterfeit $10 [Series 472]. The face of the certificate: The ink on the wings of the eagle runs into solid blue and white blotchy spots, void of clear engraving. The edges of the wings show blunt, and rounded feather edges are crudely executed. The rulings in the vertical stripes of the eagle’s breast shield are uneven and crudely executed and show no separate arrow shafts. The ink at the base of the eagle’s tail runs into solid blue. The eagle on the back of the certificate is crudely executed, the ink runs into solid brown with white blotches, and no clear engraved feather lines are indicated. There were two things that struck me from the excerpt. The first is that the author did not capitalize military payment certificate. I do not know what the convention is for this. Second, only in the military is it necessary to state the obvious, “Good looks good, bad looks bad.” *********************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question: Yesterday's Question: Who made the first Fest coin belt buckle? Question 112, difficulty 3. What series of MPC was ordered as one series number but issued as another (a favorite question). Question 113, difficulty 3. Answers: see below Comments from the field: Bill Myers wrote uestion 112: I will guess Leo May. Good guess. This is a difficult question. I do not know if there is a source to find the answer. It probably appeared in the Gram and it MIGHT be in Al's Fest money tome, but other than that you had to be there I guess. The answer is Doug Bell. Question 113: Series 471 was orderedc as 462. ========================================== Editorial ========================================== Continuing on with the theme of photos of military personnel being paid or using money, here is an item that someone pointed us to and we bought recently. This is particularly good in that it goes with Judy's developing collection of women and military numismatics. item #6622224054, ESTATE FIND$$ 1953 PHOTO USMC WOMEN AT PAY CALL ========================================== Mail Call =========================================== Dear Gram, I have really enjoyed the new columns by Jim Downey and Jack Hunter! These go with Joe's great column and Ski's returning column. You even have a decent column under the headiing of editorial (dont let anyone know I said that!. Harold =========================================== Calendar =========================================== 2006 The London Paper Money Fair has moved to: Victory Services Club, 63 Seymour Street, off Edgware Road, Marble Arch London and the dates are: May 7, July 2 and Nov 26. see: www.britishnotes.co.uk or www.londonpapermoneyfair.co.uk June 1-3 Long Beach, mini fest to be announced 16-18 June Memphis 1-14 July ANA summer seminar 16-20 August ANA convention, Denver September 14th-16th, Long Beach, mini fest to be annuonced The World Paper Money Fair, organised by the London chapter of the IBNS will be September 30/October 1 at the new venue: Hotel Russell, Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London.  see: www.ibnslondon.org.uk Oct/Nov Pcda St Louis ========================================== for dealer Hot Contact list, ANA MPC museum holdings and other static information please click this link: http://www.papermoneyworld.net/Gramattichments.htm ========================================== 2006 scholarship fund Donations of cash and numismatic material will be gladly accepted. Generally the numismatic material is auctioned at MPCFest, but might be sold via ebay or other places. Your scholarship donations help the hobby by sending qualified individuals to the ANA summer seminar military money class. Except for unavoidable charges like ebay fees, 100% of your donation goes to scholarships. Donations are now being accepted for the 2006 scholarship fund. Applications are also being accepted for the 2006 scholarships. Donors to 2006 scholarship fund: Sue McCarty (list pending) Contact me at: "Marcus Turner" mail to: maturner@indy.rr.com Checks should be made out to the "Military Numismatists Scholarship." or Marcus Turner Marcus Turner PO Box 191 Danville, Indiana 46122 USA Contributors to the 2005 scholarship were: Ed Hoffman, Warner Talso, RA Medina, John & Nancy Wilson, Keith & Sue Bauman, Dan Freeland, Tom Koch, Doug Bell, Cuneyd Tolek, David Seelye, Brian Giese, Larry Smulczenski, Joe Boling, Dick & Loretta Freyser, Mark Watson, John Cheney, Roger Urce, Harold Kroll, Al Glaser. (also Memphis Belle note purchasers and summer seminar participants. irie Harris, Robert Connell, William Benton, Ed Beaman, Frank Clark, Howard A. Daniel III, Dick and Loretta Freyser, Dan and Kathy Freeland, Jack Hunter, Harld Kroll, Tim Kyzivat, Leo May, Robbie Robinson, Joel Shafer, Neil Shafer, Larry Smulczenski, Steve Swoish, Roger Urce, Ron Waddell, Pam West, John and Nancy Wilson, Adolf Witzke, Wendell Wolka. IMPORTANT SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION Additional information can be found at the link below. We encourage everyone to print copies of this information and distribute it to those who might be interested. Further you are encouraged to e-mail the pdf document to anyone you see fit. Thank you http://www.papermoneyworld.net/news/Military Numismatists Scholarship Fund 2003.pdf Scholarships from the ANA: See the following location for an application for financial aid to the summer seminar: http://www.money.org/sumsemfin.html ========================================= POST / BASE EXCHANGE(PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale, purchase or trade will be run here for free. Send your ads to the gram. This service is for everyone, most humble dealer or most advanced collector. The point is to make the gram more interesting. In all cases confirm your order via email first. WANTED SECTION: Collectors may submit lists of items wanted for their collections for listing here. Dealers and collectors who have these items, are then encouraged to list them for sale in the above section as a reply. Wanted listings will run for a period of 1 month. ============================================= MPC Gram Staff: Publisher, editor: Fred Schwan fred@papermoneyworld.net; Subscription Manager:Doug Bell- doug@papermoneyworld.net Tuesday Columnist : JoeBoling- JoeBoling@aol.com Friday Columnist: Warner Talso: wtalso@aol.com Fest Auctioneer: Larry "Ski"Smulczenski - skitex@cox.net, Critic:Harold Kroll - HARBONS@aol.com Scholarship Coordinator: Marcus Turner- marucs@papermoneyworld.net; Webmaster and Technical Advisors:Doug Bell "Wiz" - doug@papermoneyworld.net Russ Walsh - russ.walsh@gte.net Fact Checker: Warner Talso -Calendar Coordinator: John and Nancy Wilson -The Boss: Judy Schwan MPC Gram is published by BNR Press and papermoneyworld.com as a free service to the community of military money collectors. Your suggestions, criticisms, complaints, editorial contributions, letters, and even praise are very welcome. The entire contents including linked illustrations are copyright protected by the publishers. In the case of contributors, the copyright is protected on behalf of the creators. Please send all correspondence regarding the gram to MPCgram@yahoo.com. Thank you very much for your participation. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com mpc gram mail list To subscribe to a list, send a mail message to "imailsrv@papermoneyworld.net" at this address with the following in the body of the message: subscribe mpcgram your_full_name To unsubscribe from a list, send a mail message to "imailsrv@papermoneyworld.net" at this address with the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe mpcgram if you have any problems please report then to doug@papermoneyworld.net