From: mpcgram-owner@mail.papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 10:49 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1528 MPC Gram News Letter =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Series 8, no 1528 Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Criminal Purchases by David Klinger   I appreciate and respect the comments regarding collecting military medals made by Gavin Quinn. I want to set the record straight regarding my stawman report about recently buying a Navy Cross. What I did was pick a Navy Cross off the rack, and take it to the checkout for a price check. I then asked the clerk and the shift manager if they knew of the Stolen Valor Act restrictions concerning the buying and selling of such items. They never heard of it, but the manager said he would bring it to the attention of the O-in-C. I expect that the rules will change soon. I did not actually buy the Navy Cross, but I do love these kinds of debates in the Gram. Before the current act, I have purchased medals at the NEX which I did not earn, for my personal collection. I have only a small collection of military medals and insignia. Those I earned during my 30 years in the Navy are in one shadow box, and all others are proudly displayed in other formats. Most are submarine related insignia, and not valor awards. I have never sold any of these items.   I did want to relate an incident which happened several summers ago, during the ANA Summer Seminar. Adna Wilde and I were sitting  in the hallway waiting for the instructors to open the classroom. They were late as usual. I young man approached us and asked us to identify a medal he was trying to sell for an  estate. It was a Medal of Honor!  I looked at it first, and with the help of the accompanying papers, identified it as a Civil War era medal. Before I could react to my instincts, Adna made it clear to the young man that neither of us would be interested in buying the medal, because it was against the law. He also told him to return the medal to the seller with a warning against selling it. Of course, even before the Stolen Valor Act, it was against the law to buy or sell a Medal of Honor. Adna was right. And, if the current law stands unchanged, I will abide by it. Just for the record, I fully agree that anyone who misrepresents their awards or decorations should be punished.   ***************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question 181. Difficuly 3. What new method of paying military personnel for unpaid leave was introduced in 1946? Yesterday's: Question 180. Difficuly 2. Where were Series 1944 marks printed? Answers and comments: it is not often noticed or mentioned, but AMC marks are, well, er, marked Series 1944. Therefore, Series 1944 marks were printed in the US and USSR. In the US they were printed by Forbes. The USSR printing might in doubt a little. Initially they were probably printed in the Soviet Union. Later it has been reported that they were printed in Leipzig which actually alters the answer somewhat. ========================================== Editorial ========================================== Back to my stamp show finds. A war department post card post marked Sep 9, 1946 is was very interesting. It has the following text printed on the back. Dear Sir: Your claim for terminal leave pay has been received and unless necessary to return for correction, check and/or bond, when ready will be mailed t the address entered on the claim. Settlement will be made as soon as possible, and no further communication regarding the claim should be sent this office for 90 days, except to correct claim or report a change of address. Your discharge certificate will be returned in separate envelope. FO USA Chicago The return address on the front of the postcard is War Department Finance Office, US Army 33 N. La Salle St. Chicago 2, Illinois Of course the bonds mentioned on the card were Armed Forces Leave Bonds. These were first listed in the 1995 WWII Remembered. Where we only speculated on their use. Since then a few more examples have been found and Jim Downey has done some great research to confirm that the bonds were used to pay for unused leave. He has found various documents. He probably has one of these cards, but, heck, I was delighted to get it for a buck! ========================================= Mail Call (send mail to MPCGram@yahoo.com) =========================================== Dear Editor,   I can agree with the notion that those who did not earn medals, awards and decorations should not be permitted to wear them or claim to have earned them. On the other hand the "shotgun" approach of banning all sales, trades, etc of all medals and decorations to non-earners is typical of government laws and rules that are enacted without thought or input from those affected.  The law should be re-written to permit possession for non-fraudulent purposes.  Two other points:  does the law prohibit the wife or survivor of a serviceman killed in combat from accepting the Purple Heart on behalf of his/her relative?  Secondly reference was made to the "Congressional Medal of Honor":  my understanding is the proper term is the Medal of Honor and that Congress has nothing to do with it. As far as the Feller book is concerned, I would vote for color.   Roger Urce Dear Gram, An short input to the military honor debate. When people here in Denmark are given an order like a cross, this order must be returned to the government after the persons death. The government keeps books as to whom the order has been given, so the order can be reclaimed. If the US government instituted this practice for at least the most important military (or civilian) honors, that could solve the problem of unduly trading, which unfortunately also takes place on this side of the Atlantic with European medals and orders. Flemming Hansen Dear Editor,   Now that you have heard about our coming CPMX auction with a wonderful MPC selection, a quick reminder that World Sale 10 at our www.lkcaworldpapermoney.com website ends Tuesday night. This sale contains some spectacular Gram-related items and also several intriguing lots.  Highlights include: Austria LOT 18, International Refugee Organization complete set;  Burma LOT 73, 10 Rupees with scarce Mihon overprint ex-Boling collection; China LOTS 98-106 inclusive are all worthy of mention, several ex-Boling collection; Fiji LOT 192 overprint with 1D serial prefix, now an area in demand; Germany LOT 223, Allied Military 20 Mark difficult replacement; Great Britain unusual LOTS 228 and 229; Italy LOT 272 excessively rare 50 Lire from Dodecanese Islands and LOT 273 high grade 50 Lire circulating check from Banco di Roma; Japan LOTS 277 and 278, both ex-Boling collection; Korea LOT 284, ex-Boling collection; Libya LOT 289 high grade 100 Lire Tripolitania; Malaya LOTS 297 and 298, with unusual overprint on the latter; Philippines LOTS 370-374 including some high grade CENTRAL BANK overprint pieces; Thailand LOTS 445-449, high grade; Timor LOT 451; and United States LOT 458 chits.   Please contact me at grbaypa@aol.com if you have any questions-thank you.   Joel Shafer Dear Editor,   Are my fellow Gramsters xenophobes ? What is all the talk about Army Currency?   As far as I know, there has never been any Army Currency. Do you remember the Navy, Air Force, and Marines?   Prove me wrong.   David Klinger Dear Dave, What is the matter? You got something against the Coast Guard!? See Joe’s response below then I will comment some more. Editor Dear Dave,   Look at page 17 of SB. Army currency is another name for army issues. It is a distinct class of military-related emissions. Perhaps a better name would be "military issues" (distinguished from occupation issues, liberation issues, and so forth), but calling it "military issues" would get too close to the overall categorization of ALL of these as "military" currencies. Do you have suggestion? Joe   Dear Dave, Joe does not come right out and say it, but the term army currency was invented by Joe and me sitting in my office in 1994. We struggled about the very isssue that you bring up for a long time. We settled on it for the reason that Joe mentions and some others. This issue brings up one of the little known and oft overlooked discussions that we had in Remembered. All of these issues are created for some sort of mission. They were not normally prepared as part of a master plan so that everything would be nicely categorized. Even the two major multiple series issues of WWII--JIM and AMC--evolved over the course of the war so the various issues have anomolies. Joe’s question at the very end is very good. We would like to have more discussions on these matters in the hope of correcting, possibly refining, or at least validating the terminology (and all other aspects of the various issues.) Editor =========================================== Calendar =========================================== 2007 CPMX March 8-11. MPCFest: March 23-25 2007 details TBA. 14 and 15 April 2007 The annual "Maastricht" show, officially named "PaperMoney Fair-Maastricht" will take place, with dealer set up on the 13th, at the "Polfermolen" in Valkenburg, Netherlands. For details, view the bourse web site http:// www.papermoney-maastricht.org/  or contact the show organizer, Joe Eijsermans, at apnc.eijsermans@wxs.nl or eijsermans-events@planet.nl. 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. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL 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