From: mpcgram-owner@mail.papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 10:14 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1514 ------------------------ / MPC Gram News Letter / ----------------------- =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Vol 7, no 1514 Sunday October 29, 2006 Wedding Notes Issued The deed is done. The new Seelye partnership has been created. According to plan the wedding notes were issued. One note was placed at random at each plate. Most guests were befuddled by the notes. That was too bad because it made them easy marks for David Seelye who went out of his way to find notes for his collection. Also as planned a specimen sheet was circulated and signatures of everone were added to the sheet which was quite impressive when completed. Today, the ebay auction of the uncut specimen sheet for the bennefit of the scholarship fund (see story below) ended with Al Glaser winning at over $130. Here is a link to the auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=001&sspagename=STRK%3AMESO%3AIT&viewitem=&item=110049095167&rd=1&rd=1 If the link does not work, here is the item number: 110049095167. REPORT ON ANA SUMMER SEMINAR II JULY 8-13, 2006 MILITARY NUMISMATICS BASIC CLASS FRED SCHWAN AND JOE BOLING, INSTRUCTORS by Kathy Freeland Private Freeland reporting for duty! These were the first words I thought I'd be saying as I reported for my first class in Military Numismatics. Having been to three of the Port Clinton Fests held in March with my husband Dan and about 60 other military men, I had some knowledge of the military community and the types of interests they had in all things numismatic. However, I had little idea what would transpire this week! As the only recipient of the Military scholarship sponsored by the military community that gathers at Port Clinton, this was to prove to be an exciting and busy week. The week of classes began on Sunday afternoon, July 9, at 1:00 p.m. However, my week started the day before as Instructor Fred Schwan gave me orders to assume the position of Canteen Officer. So, before class began, I was out buying pop and water for the class, a position I would carry out for the rest of the week.  DAY ONE This class is enjoyable for a number of reasons, but the reenactments in which all students are required to perform help make the class seem almost like regular military duty. With Bill Myers from Georgia acting as paymaster, all of us were required to report for pay. As a novice in this exercise, I required lots of helping saluting the correct way. I'm still not sure I have it down! I do wish I'd had someone take a picture of my inability to salute and the subsequent efforts to assist me in the correct posture– or maybe not! We received a ration card which was given to each member upon an introduction to the class about who we were, why we were interested in military numismatics and what brought us to this class! There were 7 basic students, including a YN, and 4 advanced students in this class, and they brought about a wonderful mix of questions and knowledge sure to benefit anyone who was interested in the subject of World War II. All students were issued a paybook, and then the fun began! We had to salute, present ourselves for pay, receive our pay, count it out, and then salute again before retreating to the back of the line. Our pay was in lire, although not the real stuff! Fred gave us Allied Fest Certificates, ranging from 1 lira to 2, 5, 10, 20 and 40 lire. As a former elementary school teacher and now media specialist, I have learned that if I ask the “dumbâ€? questions, someone else in the class will need the same information, so of course my first question was “What's the difference between lira and lireâ€?? Answer – lira is singular, lire is plural.  Once pay was issued, Fred put a chart on the board indicating the cost of numerous items that you needed for class. You were required to purchase a copy of the 3 main books for the class “World War II Remembered for 110 lire, Military Payment Certificates for 85 lire and Yarwood for 20 lire. I checked them out from the ANA Library because Dan and I already owned a set, so this wasn't a cost I had to pay. You were also given the "opportunity" to buy a $70 bond with $60 of your fest dollars which would help fund the war effort. Of course, as canteen officer, chit books were my department. For 20 lire, students could buy books which contained small pieces of paper called chits for their drinks. The amounts in the chit books ranged from 5 cents to 80 cents. Drinks were 50 cents each, and a box was made available for depositing your chits in exchange for your water or pop. With water in short supply this week from the ANA, most of the water was used before class was concluded on Thursday, in addition to lots of caffeinated pop to stay awake! One of the more interesting things to watch for was the rate of inflation on our money. As class began, $1 = 1.7lire. As the week progressed, we watched it fall from 1.7 to to $1 = 3.75 lire. The following chart shows the conversion rates: $1 = 1.70 lire  7-09 1300 $1 = 2.00 lire   7-10 0900 $1 = 2.18 lire  7-10 1300 $1 = 2.44 lire  7-10 1400 $1 = 3.00 lire  7-11 0900 $1 = 3.25 lire  7-11  1300 $1 = 3.35 lire  7-11 1400 $1 = 3.50 lire  7-12 0900 $1 = 3.60 lire  7-12 1315 $1 = 3.75 lire  7-12 1400 Trading suspended 7-13 The rest of the afternoon was spent learning about paper money. Fred has an interesting approach to currency. His definition states that currency is all money including paper money and coinage. {Readers, if your research indicates otherwise, we want (need) to hear from you. --Ed.}So, with that in mind, we discussed terminology used in notes. There are different kinds of notes:  1 Notes for issue (completed notes) 2 Specimen notes (will have a fantasy serial number – most common is all 000s) 3 Replacement notes, of which there are 2 kinds a Make-ups “ recreate the same serial numbers (American Bank Note Company did this) b Substitutions “ Star Notes (Zs or Xs at front and back of serial number) We also discussed how banknotes are manufactured. There are again 3 ways. 1 Intaglio = engraving “ the design is recessed into the plate. This is currently what is done at the BEP. 2 Offset =lithography 3 Letter press (rubber stamp technology) Next up for discussion was the type of paper used for notes. We talked about 1 Security paper with silk threads woven throughout, 2 Holograms, and 3 Watermarks. We then had the opportunity to see Hawaii and North Africa notes, the first issued after we went to war.  DAY TWO Each day, the advanced students joined us first thing in the morning for orders and information. We all watched as the rate of inflation kept climbing, prompting us to wonder when a conversion would take place. However, today would not be the day. We spent all day Monday discussing different types of Allied Military Currency, the notes issued to the soldiers before we entered a particular country. They were designed as supplemental currency; in other words, they were supposed to be used by the soldiers and the local population in addition to the regular coins and currency. Of course, the class wouldn't be nearly as good without Fred's stories. He entertained us with a number of them throughout the session, but stopped to tell us about the most important note of the war “the 2 French franc with the flag back. He is convinced that this little note will be one of the most important in history because every Allied soldier carried it into battle in France, and many are known to exist so the story about that part of the war can continue to the grandchildren of these military persons. DAY THREE Tuesday morning started the study of Military Payment Certificates. According to the Comprehensive Catalog of Military Payment Certificates, written by Fred Schwan (our mighty instructor) MPC was to be used by soldiers only, instead of the supplemental currency that was currently being used and abused. These were basically used after the war was over. All monies had to go through a finance office, which would reduce the problem of the black market and soldiers having more money to convert than was anticipated. However, it wasn't accepted by some of the war departments as there were places that weren't having difficulties with black market activity, Conversion to A yen was begun on July 19, 1946 in Japan and was successful immediately. Conversion day in Europe was September 16, 1946. Even later, on September 30, 1946, a second conversion was instituted in the Pacific, although this conversion was largely handled like any other pay, due to the success on July 19. It was determined after all conversions were accomplished, that almost $531 million dollars in overdrafts were handled during the conversion, $271 million of which were in German marks! At least 21 countries used MPC, and there is now documentation showing at least 7 other countries. The numbers given to each printing of notes shows the year it was printed, and which issue it was. For example, in 1947, there were 2 printings of MPC. We spent most of the morning looking at slides showing the various examples of MPC and discussing multiple printings and replacement notes. One of the most interesting items to observe is the beautiful artwork on the notes. Notes had nice vignettes, ranging from beautiful women to soldiers to aircraft and everything else in between. Most of them were printed using lithography, and at the beginning there were 4 different printers making MPC. These were the BEP, Forbes, Stecher-Traung, and Tudor Press, although eventually all printing was done by the BEP. We also received travel pay that morning. It was paid in lire, and each person received 310 lire in Series 1944a Allied Fest Certificates. Tuesday afternoon the lire continued to slide on a downward spiral. The rate of conversion after lunch was $1=3.25 lire. It was rumored that we might actually see a conversion soon, but no one knew when that would be! We continued to discuss the war after lunch, focusing on Occupied Germany. Stories were told of Barter stores, conceived by the wives of two famous army generals, where the German people could take goods to the store for appraisal and exchange. The owner was paid in “store moneyâ€? known as barter units, in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 units. This money could then be used in the store to purchase needed goods and food. The units were printed on surplus map paper by a local printer in both Berlin and Frankfurt. Four series of barter units were printed, and brought in $32,500 in MPC and 40,000 marks profit. When the stores closed in October 1948, the monies were turned over to the German Youth Association so there would be no question as to the intent of the stores. We also learned about taxi tickets, import travellers' coupons and other items important to the German occupation. We also discussed Occupied Japan, focusing on provisional currency, emergency specimen notes, and the 1946 currency reform.  DAY FOUR Each day I continued to do my canteen officer job, walking to the local gas station for ice and other supplies. The students in the class were doing a fine job of using their chits to purchase the goods I had available, and always paid for their purchases. The exchange rate this morning had gone up to $1 =3.50 lire. We would continue to watch the rise of inflation with alarm, powerless to change anything! My husband Dan had a bit of a surprise for me this morning when I got to class. This was my birthday, and we had decided to celebrate when we got home from Colorado. However, he had other thoughts in mind. A story had been circulating concerning the political situation of the ANA, and Fred asked me to read it, which I did. When I went to sit down, however, he told me to stay standing while the rest of the class sang Happy Birthday. I believe my face was as red as a beet at this spectacle! However, it was a nice surprise! Instructor Joe Boling spent the morning with us discussing the War in the Pacific. He had a slide of a wonderful map, which for those of us who are geographically challenged did much to help us see exactly where the war took place in the Pacific. It is absolutely amazing to me that so much warfare took place on a group of small islands, and that they would be so fiercely loyal to their country that they would die for it! I do wonder if any of us would feel the same way! We discussed Japanese Specimen Money, and then led into JIM “ Japanese Invasion Money. This was money given to the Japanese soldiers when they invaded different parts of the east. There were notes for Malaya, Oceania, Burma, East Indies, and the Philippine Islands. Discussion was held on many different aspects leading up to the War in the Pacific, as well as the Occupation by the Americans from 1945-1951. Wednesday afternoon we had show and tell, begun by one of the advanced students, Warner Talso. Warner was our bond chairman, and he encouraged all to buy a bond to finance the war. He discussed different aspects of these bonds, and how all countries involved in World War II had bond sales. Different countries took different angles to pay for the war effort. Germany had a lottery system where you bought lottery tickets to fund the war. Millions of Germans bought these lottery tickets as a way to fund the war. The Americans also had bonds, and the picture below shows one of these bonds. There were 3 series of bonds – E, F, and G. If you were a U.S. citizen, you could spend $25.00 up to $10,000 for a bond. Since soldiers were encouraged to support the war effort, a $10 bond was created for their purchase only, since generally they couldn't afford anything more than that. To solve the problem about what to do with all the unpaid leave the soldiers had accrued, they were paid in US armed forces leave bonds. Dan talked about Canadian war savings certificates, and Fred Schwan talked about Canadian victory loan bonds, both vital issues in the Canadian war effort. DAY FIVE On Thursday morning, conversion of our money finally took place. The lira was valued at $1 = 3.75 lire, and trading in lire was suspended. Students had to sign and date any lire they wanted to convert into fest dollars. Students then received Military Fest Certificates Series 062 which were counterstamped with ANA in green and ANA Summer Seminar 2006 in blue. Because I have a background in music, I had helped share some popular songs from the World War I and World War II era from a couple of books put out for soldiers in the wars. They appear below. We even practiced a couple of songs so we could perform at the evening banquet! We then spent the rest of the morning discussing numismatic issues of Nazi Germany, accompanied by a visit from Ken Bressett and lots of photo opportunities! On Thursday afternoon, David Schenkman came to our class to discuss Sutler tokens, "money" used by the Civil War soldiers to purchase goods from a sutler (a store owner who traveled with the soldiers to sell them the things they needed). One opportunity that these classes afford is the chance to meet other people from very diverse backgrounds, as well as experts in their field. That fact was especially true with this class. Not only did we have people like myself with virtually no military background, we had a commander of a Naval submarine as one of the advanced students, several people who had served in Vietnam, a current soldier who was going back to Iraq in September, and a soldier (now book/military numismatics dealer) from Australia. Yet all were there to share their experiences and to help enrich the class. In addition, the advanced students gave their presentations which had taken up the bulk of their time during the week of classes. David Klinger (the naval submarine commander) and Tony James (the gentleman from Australia) shared parallel research they had been doing. When they finished, we adjourned the class, promising to sit together at the banquet that night. When Joe and Fred were called to get their instructor certificates, we tried to sing "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here", but where we succeeded in volume, we lacked in tone! Oh, well, I guess our hearts were in the right place even if our voices weren't! ***************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question 168, difficulty 3: What is the highest denomination Indian Defense Savings Certificate? Yesterday's 167, difficulty 2: What was the highest and lowest denomination Japanese invasion pesoes? Question: Kathy Myers wrote: Re: the question - There are fractional JIM from the Philippines, but as far as pesos, the lowest denom. would be the 1 peso and there are known notes up to the 1,000 peso in the Inflation Series. Bill Myers wrote: The lowest JIM denomination for the Philippines pesos is 1 peso and the highest is 1000 pesos. There were also 1, 5, 10 & 50 centavo notes, and 5, 10, 100, 500 pesos notes. Mike Payton wrote: The answer to your current question in the Gram, a very easy one for an avid JIM collector, The Japanese issued notes from 1 centavo to 1,000 pesos in the Philippines. ========================================== Editorial ========================================== I rented a tie for the whole weekend and Judy and I crashed the Seelye wedding. It was indeed a grand affair. I had to restrain myself. When David turned to see his bride walking down the isle, I wanted to hold out a challenge coin in a Statue of Liberty pose. I had another chance when the new married couple walked back down the isle. Somehow, I held back. David, to his credit, challenged Judy when she went through the receiving line before me (I was distributing wedding notes). She failed, but convinced David that my coin would have to count for both of us. He seems to have been in a generous mood. Speaking of generous. Al Glaser was certainly generous in purchasing the Seelye sheet for $130. Yes, we must start raising money for 2007 (and 8 for that matter). We had a very nice time at the wedding. Oh yes, David and I even managed to conduct a little numismatic business at the reception. You did not expect anything less did you?! ========================================= Mail Call (send mail to MPCGram@yahoo.com) =========================================== Editor, Congratulations to David! Glad I got married before my husband's interestin Military Currency, though. Sounds like an interesting day is planned. Hope all goes well. By the by, have there ever been any dives near Corregidor? Maybe David should consider that for a honeymoon trip?? Kathy Myers Dear Editor, Ouch I feel a little hurt, did I not buy enough stuff, to help clean out the black hole, or was it because I said after three years of Carlson, that I would like to try a new roommate. There was no news on the dates for the fest, so in my letter with my first payment to you I said I could come any time except for 22-24. Lo and behold the next week fest is announced for that very same weekend. I know that whatever time you pick will not work for everyone, and so for I have been lucky and thought I would be this time also. That weekend is the annual convention for Pre-Paid Legal which is being held in Ada OK, so now I have a big decision to make. I was going to send in my money for the fest with my next payment to you, but now I need to wait. I was also going to send in $150.00 and suggest you raise it to that since it has been the same for so long. That way there might be enough money to pay Travel Pay this year!!!! Also to help get a early count and to motivate those like me who procrastinate, offer a $10.00 discount or an extra $20.00 in MFC for those who prepay by a certain date. I have started to review the book on bonds you gave me to look at and plan to complete it by the end of Nov. I know it's my problem and I really want to come to fest but I am going to have to struggle with this decision for awhile. With my track record I will probably make up my mind by April. I am not sure why Barbara picked me for the article but thank for your input. Robert PS thanks a lot, now you have me collecting bonds also, and I don't' have anything I collect complete yet. Dear Robert, Let me get this right, Ada, Oklahoma or Port Clinton, Ohio? Robert, we are talking about the FEST here--not some mini Fest. We will expect to see you here! Editor Dear Editor,   What happened?  Has my subscription expired?  I have not received any Grams after 1509!   Roger Urce Dear Editor, I wanted to comment on the excellent article by Chick Parsons. It was very educational and interesting. As an addendum to that article I would like to submit the following: Philippine collector, author, and researcher, C. M Nielsen has spent considerable time in the National Archives researching WWII numismatic and syngraphic material from the Philippines. He found there proclamations from the Philippine Government concerning currency notes of the Philippine National Bank that were looted and spent by the Japanese when several branches of the PNB were captured. Neil was able to document the serial number ranges of these "unoficially issued" notes. One note, the 1920 50 peso note is noted in Pick SCWPM, Pick no. 49; serials 90001 to 1000 as having been issued by the Japanese. In addition, 5 and 10 peso notes of 1916; 5 peso notes of series 1921; and 5, 10 and 20 peso notes of series 1937 were also "issued" by the Japanese. After the liberation the Philippine Government declared these notes as worthless and not redeemable. I am not at liberty to give out the serial ranges of these notes. This information belongs to Niel, and I must respect his wishes. Someday I will be able to share this information with the collecting community. This does explain why so many of these early notes are found in high grade. Mike Payton  Dear Gram, Haven't received a gram in at least a month, didn't know about Howard's illness or much of anything else happening; please reinstall my email address to your list or else I'll have to cancel my subscription! Thanxaheap- Neil Dear Neil, It is your AOL address that is cheating you out of the Gram. It is hard to know how many other subscribers are also being cheated. Editor =========================================== Dear Ed, Latest warning to travellers from Down Under is that any Vegemite secreted about their persons when heading stateside will be confiscated BEFORE the get on the plane. The Security Powers That Be have declared it to be a deeply suspicious gel-like substance that could all to easily be used with nefarious intent. Given its opaque nature they were also concerned that it could be used to conceal even more hazardous materials. At least that stops any hassles with custom authroities for Tony at the other end. kerry =========================================== 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: Nov 26. see: www.britishnotes.co.uk or www.londonpapermoneyfair.co.uk Nov 11, Boling house warming party and mini Fest (1600-2000). Nov 16-19, 2007 Pcda St Louis. IBNS meeting with program by Jim Downey subject "notes with military themes." It is Saturday at 1:00, mini-Fest to follow. 2007 MPCFest: March 23-25 2007 details TBA. [Reservations received: John Cheney(T, k), Harold Kroll(T), Ski, Louise and Joe Boling (k), Warner and Jane (auxilliary)(T), Ian and Bella Marshall(T), Jim Downey(T), Howard Daniel(T,M), Bill Yanchick and Miles (T), Kathy and Dan Freeland (k,T), Sparky Watson (T), Roger Urce(T), Ray and Steve Feller, Geroge Slade, Fred and Judy (auxiliary) Schwan(T). [Totals: festers 20, new Festers 0, Tiger lillies (auxilliary) 2, k=king room] Eternal Festers: Mike Cummings, Robert Kutcher, Leo May. Coordinating instructions. Please try to coordinate ground transportation from Cleveland, Detroit or Toledo Airports to reduce rental cars. If you cannot find a ride on your own contact adjutant and transportation officer Sparky Watson (mark.watson@edwards.af.mil). Neither Sparky nor the Fest accept any responsibility for ground transportation, but we will be happy to try to coordinate a ride for you. This MIGHT include ground transportation being sent from Fest Headquarters, but you cannot count on this and you might have to wait depending on other demands. Memphis 21-23 June. ANA Summer semnar Session I: June 24-29, 2007* Session II: June 30-July 6, 2007 ANA Convention, Milwaukee. ========================================== 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. WANTED - JAPANESE INVASION MONEY (JIM). Collector/researcher of these notes by zone, type, and block letter, or number will buy or trade.  Checklist available, Anythinfg unusual is of particular interest. Mike Payton, 6609 Craig, Merriam, KS. USA 66202, papermoneymike@yahoo.com 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. ======================================= MPCGram 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. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail (http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/) 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