Return-Path: Received: from web5205.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.86]) by walker.mail.mindspring.net (Mindspring Mail Service) with SMTP id t5ao62.bjpd.37kbi73 for ; Fri, 5 Jan 2001 00:50:58 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <20010105055056.20330.qmail@web5205.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [205.188.200.163] by web5205.mail.yahoo.com; Thu, 04 Jan 2001 21:50:56 PST Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 21:50:56 -0800 (PST) From: MPCgram Subject: MPC Gram 216 To: mpcgram@yahoo.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ==================================================== MPC Gram ==================================================== Covering the Entire World of Military Numismatics ---------------------------------------------------- Series 002-Number 216 First Thurski - 4 January 2001 Great Info on Special Army Currency by Larry "Ski" Smulczenski By the time you read this many of us will be in Orlando for the FUN Convention. Hopefully there will be a few things to add to our collections. Since I'm busy packing, I'm going to use this time to share a document found at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with you. It is entitled "Special Army Currency" and was written by Special Agent Cawley to the Chief, U. S. Secret Service. "On Saturday, November 1, 1947 at 4:45 P.M., I received at home a telephone call from Mr. George Duncan, Superintendent, Surface Printing Division, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, who also was at his home. Mr. Duncan advised that a truck loaded with 10 skids of this currency was to have arrived at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing during the day but was now overdue and if it did not arrive by 7:30 A.M. on November 2, 1947, the operational schedule would be delayed and he would have to notify a large number of employees not to come in for work. Mr. Duncan also advised that he had consulted the Director and he had authorized him to contact me and request that I endeavor to trace and locate the truck; also to inform me that another truck was due to arrive on November 2, 1947." "As the result of telephone conversations with SA Allen and Mr. Sampson, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing representative at Tudor Press in Boston, and the terminal of E. J. Scannell Motor Transportation at 908 Trinity Street, Baltimore, Maryland (telephone Plaza 4932), the truck was located at about 8:15 P.M., when it arrived at the latter place after having experienced "clutch trouble" enroute. The duty man at the terminal advised that he would have another tractor attached to the trailer and proceed to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing immediately and would arrive at about 10:00 P.M., and that the seals on the trailer were intact. I talked with the driver of the new tractor, giving him instructions as to entering the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. I then instructed the Uniformed Force officer in charge, Lieutenant O'Hara, and arranged to have a guard at the vehicle entrance door to admit the truck." "Mr. Duncan was informed of the situation and he arranged for the unloading of the cargo at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The Director was informed by me that the truck had arrived at Baltimore prior to the arrangement for completing the trip." "Before locating the truck, I contacted the headquarters of the Maryland State Police at Pikesville, Maryland (Telephone 101) and without disclosing the nature of the cargo other than that it was valuable, asked them to try to locate the truck and protect its contents and also to contact the State Police of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York; I had also requested SA Allen to do the same through the Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut Police. These requests were canceled when the truck was located." "Before the truck arrived at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a telephone call was received from the Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, asking for information concerning a report they had received concerning a valuable motor truck cargo form Boston to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing that was overdue. I denied that there was any such project or occurrence." "I then received a call from Lieutenant O'Hara, advising that the truck arrived at 10:06 P.M. and that he had inspected the skids and found them intact." "This Truck Left the Tudor Press plant with 10 skids of currency at 6:40 P.M., October 31, 1947 and was given 20 hours to complete the trip; it was referred to as a "Gypsy Van" not owned by S. J. Scannell Motor transport; it was driven by Sebastiano Mangiagli of 624 West North Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland, driver's permit 467802; the tractor license number was Maryland TR 3613 and the trailer bore Maryland T 5034; the seals on the two doors were numbered 867868." This is an interesting although very detailed report. The Special Army Currency was released in West Germany a little over six months after this happened on 20 June 1948. As you know this precipitated the Berlin Blockade and the Berlin Airlift. About a year after the incident referred to in the above document, Columnist Drew Pearson in his syndicated column "The Washington Merry-Go-Round" filed this story. "The most hush-hush job of printing paper money in recent years was done by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing when it prepared new money for the U.S. Army in Germany and Korea." "Obviously the Army didn't want the Russians to get wind of what was happening." "That was why a high fence was built around the Tudor Press of Boston, which used an old three-story building on Orleans Street in East Boston. All gates but two were locked with those two heavily guarded and floodlights glaring down on employees as they checked in for work." "The government even had the Tudor Press paint the lower panes of the windows to prevent passers-by from seeing in." "Several special guards from the Treasury Department in Washington and 12 plainclothes men from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing also kept a constant watch over the printing job." "From Boston, the money was trucked to Washington in large flat sheets. There the Bureau of Engraving and Printing cut the money up and numbered it." "News of the paper money printing job almost leaked out when one truck driver, Seb Magiali (sic) had clutch trouble and was long overdue in Washington. State Police in Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and New York spent several hours searching for him and a Philadelphia newspaper got wind of the story, but never was quite able to track it down." "When the currency was finally finished, it was shipped to Brooklyn in three Pennsylvania Railroad express cars, under a guard of railroad police, plus special agents of the Army Criminal Investigation Division. They never let it out of their sight. As we all know, the secret did not get out and the currency reform was a success catching the Russians completely by surprise. But it was close, and a malfunctioning truck could have been the culprit that allowed a Philadelphia newspaper to spill the story to the world six months early. ==================================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- We are having great, well, fun here in Florida. The weather is not all that good but still better than in Ohio. There is lots of MPC action here. The newly discovered 472 50c second printing is on display at the table of the MPC Kid, Harold Kroll. The two comptroller specimen books are on display for the first time at the Schwan table. Plenty of good material is changing hands, but I have not heard of any block buster deals. Of course there are two major days left and some great deals are even made on Sundays. Marv Mericle has his spectacular MPC collection here as a competitive exhibit. I know that it is terribly late for anyone to come here who is not on the way or at least planning to come, but this exhibit alone is worth the trip! If you miss it here, Marv has stated his intention of putting an improved version up at the Atlanta ANA!!! ==================================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Gramsters, To all those in receipt of the GRAM. I look forward to seeing everyone at MPC Fest, and then we can all converge on ANA for the summer seminar ( two Fest in one year ) ANA is going to be not a MPC Fest, but a Military Currency Fest. Also those attending the Seminar will be in Colorado Springs for a great 4th of July. Wish everyone happy hunting for 2001. May everyone add an outstanding item to their collection in 2001. Marv' Mericle =================================================== Departments --------------------------------------------------- WWII numismatics seminar at ANA Summer Seminar 2001 --------------------------------------------------- Not only does the scholarship fund have an official identity but also has a bank account! Any further donations should be paid to the order of "Military Numismatists Scholarship" and sent to: Military Numismatists c/o Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, IN 46123 THE UPDATED LIST OF SCHOLARSHIP BENEFACTORS 11/22/00 Mike Cummings Ed B. Doug Bell R. A. Medina Harold MPCKid Kroll Bill McNese Marcus Turner Larry Ski Fred PK6 Joel Shafer World Wide Ventures John & Nancy Wilson Neil Shafer ----------------------------------------------------- MPC Fest II ----------------------------------------------------- MPC Fest is the annual feast of MPC. After some difficulties of coordination we have not changed the dates and tentatively scheduled 9-11 March 2001 for MPC Fest II. If these dates cause a problem, please write the gram immediately. ==================================================== Post/Base Exchange (PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale 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. Send in a list of items for sale and we will list them here in the gram. In all cases confirm your order via email first. MPC Series 472 25c CU, $180, David Seelye, coinman@rochester.rr.com. MPC Series 641 $10 with flipper serial number (the number is still a number when held upside down) f-vf, $22. verify at fred@papermoneyworld.com. ============================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein critic: Harold Kroll - MPCKid@papermoneyworld.com; index manager: Ed Beaman webmaster & technical advisor: Doug Bell - (Wiz): doug@papermoneyworld.com; 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!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/