From: mpcgram-owner@papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2006 7:18 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1488 ------------------------ / MPC Gram News Letter / ----------------------- =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Vol 7, no 1488 Saturday August 5, 2006 The Master Sergeant Daniel Completes Overseas Tour!! by Howard A. Daniel III It is difficult to believe a month has gone by since I arrived here in Viet Nam!! Maybe because it was such a busy time. My first few days were the most productive for numismatic material and then it sloped down to nothing during my last few days. For the first time, I did not buy any MPC or coupons for anyone because it was either too high priced and/or the grades were too low. When did Gramsters start caring about grading and pricing? I ordered my standard group of 25 t-shirts with something about Viet Nam on them. I use them as gifts back in the USA, mostly to youngsters but I do have a few XXL and XL for those BIG adults! I had to look for my t-shirt man to order them. His old location doubled his rent so he moved to a cheaper location. All of downtown Saigon (District 1) is becoming very expensive for the retailers, and it is being passed on to the tourists! But when going outside of downtown, the prices get back to very reasonable! I bought about 20 hard and soft cover books and many magazines and newspapers for my library, and a few for some friends who are also researching related areas of Viet Nam. They weigh a TON in my suitcase so I will shift a few to each of Phung's two suitcases, and will still likely have to leave a couple here because my suitcase would be overweight. And you do not want to be overweight these days in air travel!! My wife also bought her standard order of one dozen purses/handbags for the female managers on her staff and some friends. Phung is a regular purse buyer for herself too. She buys a new one every month, and salts the old one away in one of her suitcases. When she makes a trip to Viet Nam, she brings all of them and gives them out to sisters, sisters-in-laws, nieces, cousins, friends, etc. I spent a lot of time going around town with one or two at a time of our six nieces before Phung arrived, and then she took them around with her too. It gives them a lot of English time in real life situations, and I just like having good looking young ladies around me! Quoc was in-country most of my time here. He was at Memphis and then went on to Singapore for a show and visiting the dealers and collectors there, so I beat him back into Viet Nam. I bought a couple of pieces for him and I am bringing back a couple of orders for him. His new shop is at 27 Nguyen Thi Dieu in District 3 and his email is now SaigonCoin@ Mrs Phuong is still at 80 Le Loi in her sliver of a shop. I bought more than a dozen very old personal Buddhist charms from her that were probably left here by some Thai soldiers during the war. I will be giving them to some Thai I know back in Northern Virginia. They will love them! I also bought some old documents that came out of the palace in Hue when there was still an emperor living there. I think I have every emperor from Tu Duc to Bao Dai but I will have to check my new purchases against what is in the USA, if I can find them in my black hole! And Kim and Tuan are still doing business on Le Cong Kieu but I call them and set up a meeting at their house because that is where THE inventory is really located. Their email is QHung2703@Yahoo.com if you want to set something up before you arrive. They have a TON of MPC and other military stuff. I have really never had enough time after looking for my stuff to see all of it! The Sunday morning coin, paper money and stamp club meeting next to the Art Museum near Le Cong Kieu is often a productive time for me. And it is a great place to meet other collectors who have similar interests. I am usually there about an hour, and then take a taxi over to Quoc's shop before we go to lunch together. Our beach resort vacation at the Little Mui Ne Resort was great! We brought eight of the family with us and rented three cottages. The swimming pool got a workout from two or more of us from dawn to after dusk! And the restaurant menu was excellent enough that we rearely went outside to eat. There were Vietnamese dishes, but also some solid American and European food. I was the only American there. About half of the visitors were Vietnamese from HCMC, another 25% were German, and the rest were English, French and Belgium. It was really hell being around all of those bikinis! My computer guru/source (a Viet Kieu with two stores in Vienna,Virginia) was here too for a few days. We met him for dinner at the Sheraton Hotel's buffet restaurant with one of our single nieces (he is single too). It is a GOOD place to eat! He has made a lot of money for a young man, and he wants to give some of it to some poor Vietnamese kids by setting up a free computer school. He is looking for a Vietnamese partner here and the right place, staff, etc. A good young man. When I get back to the USA in about 36 hours, I have about a week to sort out things and pack for a drive to the Denver ANA. I will be stopping to see some numismatists along the way out and back, so if you are on my route going due East from Virginia on a lot of I-40 and coming back on a lot of I-20, send me an email at HADaniel3@msn.com and I will try to bother you for a couple of hours. That is it for this tour. I hope you guys and gals have the ole USA still intact by the time I land. ***************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question: For what country did Edmund Dulac design notes during World War II. Bonus point--where did he live when he did the work (what country)? Difficulty 3. [What question (number) are we on?] Yesterday's Question: The Free French local issue for New Caladonia has what vignette on the face? Comments from the field: Bill Myers wrote: The local printings have a vignette of a mine. ========================================== Editorial ========================================== Happy birthday Ski. Yes, the Skister is about to have his 31st anniversare of his 39th birthday. The actual day is Monday the 7th. His extended family is gathered in Texas this weekend to mark the event. Send you birthday wishes directly to Ski or send them here to the Gram. In the finest Gram/Fest tradition, a celebration certificate was issued for the event. The notes were created by the Great Lakes Bank Note Company and include many interesting design features in addition to the portrait of Ski on the face. The basic issue of notes are being distributed at the TxSkiFest. The basic issue of notes was in the block L-S. An additional ten notes were printed in block A-A for collectors. They are being offered on ebay (see 110017871739) in a Dutch auction that ends on the actual birthday--Monday the sevent. The ten notes are just about--but not exactly--what you would expect. They are serial numbers A00000001-A00000009A. The tenth note in issued format is A00000039A. I am not certain how this happened, but the numbers betwen 9 and 39 were NOT printed. The ten notes are supplemented with a specimen (from the L-S block). All of the proceeds will go to the 2007 military numismatics scholarship fund. I had planned to try this sale as a one day event to see (among other things) how much activity we could generate in a day. Well, with the poor Gram-publishing record of late, I decided that I better save that experiment for another day. However, I must say that the auction generated bids almost immediately. ========================================= Mail Call =========================================== Dear Gram, In the Summer 2006 issue of On Point, the Army Historical Foundation magazine, there is an item in Stray Rounds that might be of interest to some Gramsters. It is as follows; Research Assistance...Dr. Marsha Orgeron, Assistant Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University, is conducting preliminary research for a book on amateur cinematography from World War II. Her primary interest is soldier film (8mm or 16mm) of concentration camps, but she is also interested in any moving images from the war (WWII). Anyone interested in assisting Dr. Orgeron can contact her at the Department of English, CB-8105, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8015; by e-mail at Marsha_Orgeron@NCSU.edu; or telephone at (919) 515-4178. Some of the filmtakers could have "souvenirs" from the camps they filmed or other information! Howard Daniel ========================================== 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 1-14 July ANA summer seminar Colorado Springs Coin Show on July 7, 8, & 9 with lots of folks from the seminar and probably a mini Fest on Saturday afternoon. 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 ========================================= 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