From: mpcgram-owner@mail.papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 10:27 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1526 MPC Gram News Letter =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Series 8, no 1526 Sunday, February 26, 2007 BCOF etc. by David Klinger A few months ago I received news of a [military numismatic] Gold Strike in Australia from our fellow Gramster and Seminarian, Tony James.   This discovery is a continuation of a string of discoveries which started with the 100 Yen British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) Special voucher, and then the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) Australian counterfeits. Both of these have been reported in the Gram and elsewhere.   Then, Tony was able to get a look into a safe at The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) which had not previously been available due to the fact that the only employee at the RBA who had access to the safe was on extended leave for several months. The search of the material in the safe was meant to find any further info/examples of the BCOF Special Vouchers and/or the NEI counterfeits. Nothing more was found  of those items.   But, much to our surprise, a whole new proposed WWII issue was found! What the Australians had produced in 1943/44 were proofs/essays of Allied Military Occupation Currency (AMOC). There was a  color "Photographic Proof of the front and back of a 10 Yen Note" and a "Sketch Design [essay] of the front of a 50 Yen Note"   Both Tony and I were also provided with a large number of the WWII correspondence files related to most everything produced by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). This was the predecessor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). We owe our thanks to Virginia MacDonald, archivist of the RBA, for providing all of this wonderful research material.   Tony put most of the pieces of this puzzle together for an article in the Australian numismatic press. It is an oustanding product. He  also plans an article for the IBNS . You can see his first article here:   http://www.papermoneyworld.net/grams/1500-1599/JapYen.pdf    If you can't read .pdf files, you can view the AMOC 10 Yen proof, and 50 Yen essay at: http://davidklinger.blogspot.com   BRAVO ZULU to Tony!  ***************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question 179. Difficuly 3. How many differnet types (varieties) of APO money orders were sold to soldiers overseas during WWII? (We are looking for the minimum confirmed number of varieites.) Yesterday's: Question 178. Difficuly 3. Name four countries that participated in the WWII occupation of Germany AND issued an army currency for the occupation. Answers and comments: Bill Myers and Warner Talso sent good answers. Warner wrote: Very good question with a clever nuance.  I expect joint or supplemental issues do not count. Also there is a difference between "issued" and "used".    Therefore I suggest:  The United States (MPC), The Netherlands (Ministerie van Orlog notes), Belgium (Armee Belge notes) and Denmark (Den Danske Brigade notes).  For extra credit I add Great Britain {British Armed Forces Special Vouchers (BAFSV)}. Bill wrote: I looked up the meaning of Army Currency and think I have it. Countries that released Army issues in occupied Germany are: United States-Military Payment Certificates, Great Britain-British Armed Forces Special Vouchers, Netherlands-Ministerie van Oorlog, Belgium-Armee Belge. [They did a good job. Here is a good question that we cannot include in the championship series because it is not (exactly) issued in Remembered or other numismatic sources (that I know of). What Allied countries participated in the occupation of Germany but did NOT issue an army currency? One is Canada. That is too eacy (Canada used MPC). Are there any other countries?] ========================================== Editorial ========================================== I had a great time at the Toledo STAMP show on Saturday. I spent most of the day there and really only went through the inventory of two dealers. Both had large inventories of World War II covers. Most of these were patriotic cover. That is they had printed patriotic (propaganada) messages. Many were beautiful, all were interesting. My purchases with the most direct numismatic connection were postal money order receipts from the war period. We mention postal money orders frequently when discussing military pay and finance. For a very long time, possibly even today, PMOs were an important way for soldiers to send money home. Certainly it was true through Vietnam. Some of the various money orders issued over the many decades were marked military or were in some other way identifiable as being from the military community. Of course it is rare to find an uncashed money order from World War II. In fact, I have never heard of one, but there must be at least a few. Next to the money order in desirability is the stub/receipt. I think that this is the first time that I found any of those (but I am not sure). These small stub include quite a bit of information. First and foremost is the postmark that identifies it as coming from an APO. I obtained stubs from three APOs. One is not full legible (I will get Joe Boling to read it). The other two APOs are 709 and 871. Those are Guadacanal and Cheltonham, England. Guadacanal, wow. I cannot make out the date. I think that it is April 1, 1944, but it could be 1945. I just noticed that in my small sample there are two different types of stubs. They are similar but the text is different. Type 1 (1942 date) has the word Receipt immediately below the serial number: type 2 has the receipt text below the amount. What do you think a subscription to Readers Digest cost in 1944/5? I know the answer because the back of one of the receipts indicates what the order was for. A subscription cost $1.50. I will tell you about some of my other purchases later. ========================================= Mail Call (send mail to MPCGram@yahoo.com) =========================================== Dear Editor, Only a few more weeks until the Fest, so time to start coordinating rides.  As the Transportation Officer, I will facilitate coordination between drivers and riders, with final arrangements being left to the drivers and riders.  Also, there is no guarantee that a match will be made, so if you are not driving to the Fest, please have an arrangement in place to procure your own transportation as a taxi service may not be available.   To assist me with the coordination, I'm looking for the following information:   For riders - City where you need the ride from, airline flight information (number and arrival time), city where you need the ride back to, and return flight information   For drivers - Cities traveling from and if you are going through one of the following towns (Detroit, Toledo, or Cleveland) and approximately what time you would be going both coming to the Fest and returning back home   Please email me the information at mcwatson@yahoo.com .  I'll send out updates every Sunday and then daily the last week leading up to the Fest.   Cheers, Sparky Dear Editor,   Well, in this case I agree with Joe Boling about the Stolen Valor Act. It is just ridiculous to try to prevent collectors from buying or selling military decorations. Just today, I bought a Navy Cross from my local Navy Exchange - did I break the law?  Or did the NEX?   David Klinger Dear Gram, As a veteran, I can understand Gavin Quinn's comments in Gram 1525 about the Stolen Valor Act. I personally believe those who wear or claim awards and decorations they have not earned are low-lifes who impugn whatever service they may have done for the country by doing their false claims. At the same time, you have to look at the unintended consequences of the Act. It would make a felon out of me for acquiring a Purple Heart, an award I did not earn, and putting it in a shadowbox in memory of my nephew who was killed in Iraq in 2004. I would also be guilty of a separate offense for mailing the same shadowbox to his mother. Is this really good policy? Jim Downey Good Afternoon:       I vote for color.                     G. W. Slade =========================================== Calendar =========================================== 2007 CPMX March 8-11. MPCFest: March 23-25 2007 details TBA. ANA Summer semnar Session I: June 24-29, 2007* Session II: June 30-July 6, 2007 Memphis 6-8 July 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. ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265 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