From: mpcgram-owner@mail.papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 11:04 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1529 MPC Gram News Letter =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Series 8, no 1529 Thursday, March 1, 2007 Earn Your Medals by Flt Lt Andrew M Clark (RAF Retd). Some of the participants in the current discussion on medal collecting appear to lack focus and the Act referred to appears to be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.   In MPCGram 1527 the correspondent makes a clear distinction between buying a medal for a collection and buying a medal in order to pass oneself off as a legitimate recipient.  Surely this is the crux of the matter; do you claim to be the legitimate recipient?   My medal has my Service details engraved around the edge, and is now mounted in a display case with those of my father and grandfather (which are not engrave). The duplicate I openly purchased to wear at Remembrance Parades is clearly a Copy as this word has been clearly engraved into the mold before the reproduction medal was cast.  I did not need to buy someone else's medal, I bought a Copy.   Last week we had a nationally broadcast antiques TV programme openly explaining to the son of the recipient that their group of medals was of particular interest to collectors as it was awarded for tank (cavalry) actions and contained the MC and MM.  This more than tripled the already not inconsiderable value.  The son was not interested in selling, only in insuring.   Collecting is a fact of life; we are collectors. The stories associated with a group of medals are as much a part of the collecting, as is the possession of those medals.  If we start criticizing others then we need to take care that we do not live in a glass house; ghetto scrip, concentration camp money, Bernhard forgeries.  I've even been offered a note saturated in the blood of the last Japanese owner; removed from the body by the father of the person offering it to me. I declined the offer.   Let us all retain a sense of proportion and keep a focus on the issue.   More Valor and Commentary by Joe Boling  In response to Gavin Quinn's letter in gram 1525: I was neither advocating nor condemning trading in military decorations. However, there is a well-established collector base for these artifacts, and there can surely be no better repository of, for instance, 19th century campaign and service medals than collectors of same. Museums are notorious for not caring about, nor caring for, such items in their possession. If not for dedicated collectors, knowledge about and the very existence of these items would wither.  I think of my friend the late Al Gleim. Had he been unable to collect the pieces cited above, he would never have been able to conduct the seminal research that he published in many OMSA articles and books, identifying originally-named pieces as distinguished from altered and spurious naming.  Collectors were not the target of the Stolen Valor Act, but the bill's drafters were so incompetent, or so oblivious, that collectors ended up downrange. They need to be protected.  In the March FUN-Topics was a report of the FUN annual meeting, which was held at the convention on 7 January 2007. Nobody has reported that Fester Colonel (Doctor) Bill Myers won the Charles Fine Literary Award for best article published in FUN-Topics in 2006 - for his article "AAFES Pogs," based on his best-of-show exhibit at the 2006 FUN convention. Congratulations to Bill. The meeting report contained the following words: "[FUN Education Director Randy] Campbell reported that the winner for 2006 is a surgeon who is now in his 4th tour of duty in Iraq. The surgeon reattaches fingers and repairs knees, and is a 'miracle worker' for many of our young men fighting abroad."  Fester Sparky Watson has established a web site for bond images. Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/warbonds for illustrations of scores of bonds, with many more yet to be posted. This promises to be a major resource for collectors. ***************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question 182. Difficuly 3. What is the highest denomination Allied Military schilling note that was printed in the United States? Yesterday's: Question 181. Difficuly 3. What new method of paying military personnel for unpaid leave was introduced in 1946? Answers and comments: Robert Drew and Bill Myers correctly answered Armed Forces Leave Bonds. ========================================== Editorial ========================================== Another stamp show purchase is a post card postmarked Chicago Sep 24, 1943. The message is printed (offset): Chicago Service Men Centers Canteen 176 W. Washington Street 430 S. Michigan Avenue 50 E. 49th Street Mrs. Edward J. Kelly - Chairman WE ACKNOWLEDGE WITH APPRECIATION YOUR CONTRIBUTION T THE CANTEEN AT THE SERVICE MEN CENTERS. PLEASE ACCEPT MY PERSONAL THANKS. Sincerely yours, Mrs. Edward J. Kelly I think that the signature is rubber stamped rather than printed but I am not certain. Quite remarkably there is a small control number to the left (17377). I think that this might be the job number from the printing company because I cannot believe that the Chicago organization could possibly have had so many printed mailers that they required such control numbers. Ebay did not yield any hits, but Google gave some hits on the Chicago Service Men Centers: August 7, 1941-The Chicago Servicemen's Center is launched by the Chicago Commission on National Defense through Mayor Edward J. Kelly at 178 W. Washington, Chicago, Illinois (Note: this facility was operated by the City of Chicago and had been the Elk's building.) My guess is that some chits, meal cards, or similar items were probably issued for the canteen at the centers. Normally, we do not make discoveries of things like that by thinking of them an searching. Usually, we find the artifact then search for information on the agency. Nonetheless, this seems like an interesting purchase for $2 this time (as opposed to the $1 for the card about the AFLB.) ========================================= Mail Call (send mail to MPCGram@yahoo.com) =========================================== Dear Editor: In reference to the question of whether there is Army currency, there may be some of this money. I have "Club Bucks" from Ft. Hamilton Army Garrison in Brooklyn, N. Y. They are issued in $1 and $5 denominations to be used on this base only. The Officer's Club, now called the Fort Hamilton Community Club, is where they are redeemed. The $1 "buck" is yellow and the $5 is green. Each is serial numbered and each has an expiration date. It is a matter of what one considers currency for them to qualify. In any event they are interesting collectibles. If any readers are interested in these items please contact me DADACNT@AOL.COM J J Sullivan Dear Esteeeemed Editor I have written to you several times since you resurfaced about the Charlotte ANA but nothing is appearing in the Gram.  Do I have to telephone the boss to get some results?  I will be manning a club table at the Charlotte ANA March 16-18 and there will be the usual IBNS and NI meetings on Saturday morning where Gramsters and other demented civilians and former military may rest their weary legs. The Master Sergeant Daniel Dear Editor, I read your editorial. Good score on the post card. Since this is an easy question and I read it within the first few hours after receiving it, I will give my answer of Armed Forces Leave Bond. Also Fred you were right, I can't stay away, put me down for Fest VIII, the registration is in the mail. Robert Robert, We look forward to seeing you. Thank you too, to others who have sent in registrations. I expect to get the Fest roster back in the Gram this weekend and a draft of the training schedule too. 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. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Cheap talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. http://voice.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