From: mpcgram-owner@papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2006 10:22 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1465 ------------------------ / MPC Gram News Letter / ----------------------- =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Vol 7, no 1465 Saturday June 9, 2006 Odds and ends by Joe Boling Strange as it might seem, one Medal of Honor, awarded posthumously, was unclaimed for decades. It was awarded to Seaman Peter Tomich for action aboard the USS Utah during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Tomich was an immigrant from the Balkans, with no known relatives in the US. According to a tiny article in The Week (12 May 2006), "The Navy has now located Tomich's distant cousin, Srecko Tonic, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Croatian army. The chief U.S. naval officer in Europe, Adm. Henry Ulrich, will present Tonic with the medal in a ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise." Nice touch - a military man ought to really appreciate it. http://www.medalofhonor.com/PeterTomich.htm Want to design a pog for AAFES? Through 31 July AAFES is soliciting photographs to be used for future pog issues. From the 12 June Army Times: "You can submit digital images to aafespog@harperhouse.com (put "AAFESPOG Contest" in the subject line);...." [They also give a snail mail address.] Include information about where and when it was taken, what's happening in the picture and identities of the people shown. Also include an e-mail address, postal address, and telephone number so AAFES can notify you if you win. Two first-prize winners will each score a $1,000 AAFES gift card; two will get $750 gift cards; and six will get $50 gift cards. For more information see www.aafes.com." Nowhere does it say that the contest is restricted to AAFES-authorized customers, though the prize schedule sort of excludes civilians. Maybe the web site has more restrictions. It also does not say that original artwork is acceptable, but I was thinking what a coup it would be for David Schwan, designer of much MFC, to get some of his work on a pog. Finally, the 37-cent Purple Heart stamp has been reissued in 39-cent denomination. I bought a couple sheets of them last week On The Value of Barter Units by Kenneth J. Berger   For many years, I have been searching for the value of the German Barter Units. In other words, exactly how much was a barter unit worth, i.e. what was the exchange rate between German Barter Units and U.S. Dollars. I asked currency dealers; I asked our esteemed editor; I asked the Gramsters. Nobody has ever been able to give me answer. This has been most frustrating.  Well, finally, I believe I have found part of the answer.   In searching the internet, I found the following website:   http://www.le.ac.uk/ulmc/ijccr/vol7-10/ijccr%2010no4.pdf.     This website contained the following report:   International Journal of Community Currency Research. Vol 10, pp 24-42 COMMUNITY EXCHANGE AND TRADING SYSTEMS IN GERMANY Rolf F. H. Schroeder Hildesheimer Str. 92, D-30169 Hannover, Germany   In this report, I found the following statement:   "In the summer of 1945 the administration controlled by the occupying forces began to establish so-called "Barter-Centres" and "Tauschringe" as a legal alternative to the black market. Usually these centres were former retail shops. Clients could bring their goods, these were appraised in terms of Reichsmarks at the value of 1938. Although the Reichsmark had lost its value, it served as a measure to evaluate the goods. If the good was accepted, the client received a credit note and could make his choice from the pool of goods available in the shop (Schneider, 1996, p. 124). The Barter-Centre charged a fee for the service. These institutions existed in many parts of Germany. Different variations of the system developed. In some cases the Barter-Centre (sometimes also called Tauschzentrale) did not act as multi-lateral exchange systems but as buyer or seller or they took the goods on a commission basis. The efficiency was enhanced by the formation of so-called “Tauschringe”, associations of Barter Centres. A customer could take his or her credit slip and go shopping in a number of Barter Centres in the region (Schneider, 1996, p. 123)."   Schneider, C. (1996) Ein vergessenes Kapitel der Wirtschaftsgeschichte: Barter-Center und Tauschringe im besetzten Nachkriegsdeutschland. Scripta Mercaturae. 30/1: pp. 121-130.   Thus, we see that the Barter Units were on par with the Reichsmarks of 1938.  Therefore, if we can determine the exchange rate between the U.S. Dollar and the Reichsmark in 1938, we will know the value (in U.S. Dollars) of the Barter Unit.   Does anybody know the exchange rate? *********************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question: For what purpose were validation board certificates issued? Question 125, difficulty 3. Yesterday's Question: Where was the Allied military 2-franc note printed? Question 124, difficulty 1. Comments from the field: Bill Myers writes In Chelsea, Massachusetts by Forbes Lithograph Corporation. ========================================== Editorial ========================================== The last editorial that I wrote was about D-Day. On the seventh, I was at some place of business and picked up the Toledo Blade. There was not too much special until I got to the second news section. There I found a nice feature story about an area WWII veteran. Wow, there right below the fellow's picture was a great picture of a short snorter that the fellow had made on D-Day and has kept all of these years. It is on a Bank of France note and is signed by Ernie Pyle. To top things off, the gentleman is from the tiny little town Gibsonberg, Ohio. That is my father's hometown. It is possible that they knew each other as kids. I think that I will try to call the fellow. ========================================== Mail Call =========================================== Dear Gramsters, Memphis is only a few days away! I look forward to seeing many old friends and meetings some new ones! Harold Dear Harold, I think that your letter about sums it up. I am getting excited! Editor ========================================== 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: 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