Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5205.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.86]) by hazard.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id teqnmg.r9s.37kb01i for ; Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:47:12 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010430124711.8532.qmail@web5205.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [205.188.199.179] by web5205.mail.yahoo.com; Mon, 30 Apr 2001 05:47:11 PDT Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 05:47:11 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 325 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 325 Monday, April 30, 2001 WWII Panamanian Notes By Fred Schwan In the May 2001 Bank Note Reporter just arrived, Alan Herbert rather matter of factly describes the issuance of the 1941 Panama Balboa notes. He states [page 69] “There was a sort of ‘paper rebellion’ which while short-lived provides the paper collector with a set of four notes that are the only legal-tender issues actually put into circulation by the central government. The 1-, 5-, 10- and 20-Balboa notes were issued in 1941 by a government that was considered to be pro-Nazi and a threat to American control of the Panama Canal. The notes were issued in order to drive the U. S. currency out of the country, but after being in circulation a short time a coup removed the government, the notes ere called in and destroyed and the American dollar became the official currency again.” When Joe Boling and I were working on World War II Remembered, we specifically discussed and considered these notes for inclusion. The 1941 date made them prime candidates, but we just could not make a connection to the war as Herbert has done. If Alan is correct, the notes certainly deserve to be listed. Furthermore, the circumstances would be unusual if not unique among WWII issues. Panamanian political history is not a strong point of mine so I had to do some digging on that score and found support for Alan’s summary on that score. By the way, Panama did declare war on the Axis powers on December 8, 1941. However, do the political facts before the declaration of war support the conclusion that it was the INTENT of the paper money issue to drive out the United States dollar for military or war-related purposes. Of course I could not find anything that directly addressed this matter. On the surface, if there was a sort of anti American message to the issue, it does not seem likely that the American Bank Note Company would have been selected for the production of the notes. Of course this alone does not disprove the theory. Joe and I wondered if it might have been a shortage issue produced because of an anticipated shortage of money because of silver hoarding and possible interruption in the supply of United States paper money. This is still a distinct possibility. If the issue was truly motivated by pro Axis factors, there is a good argument that the Panamanian government would want to hoard US dollars for possible use against the United States. However, this argument seems to go both ways. In such a case it might ultimately be necessary to replace the withdrawn notes, so these arguments are far from conclusive. If any reader has some definitive information on these issues or even more ideas or theories, we certainly would like to hear them. I hope that someone with Alan Herbert’s email address will forward this to him for comment. Furthermore, Alan, if you will drop us a line, we will add you to the Gram list. ==================================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- I must admit that I was a bit surprised at the level of emotion generated over the drinking letter. Sure the writer was misinformed at best, but it was published with an editorial comment to that effect. Letters to the editor are well known to be among the most popular features of many publications. Basically, we feel that it is our job to run the letters. We probably comment too frequently, but just can hardly resist sometimes. We have a unique readership here at the Gram. We can trust the readers to consider all aspects of a letter (or article for that matter) and make an appropriate judgment. If a letter is off base we count on the readers to jump in and make the opposing case. We have only made the deliberate decision to not run a letter only a few times. Sometimes we are a little slow in getting a letter published, and sometimes we even lose a letter, but we seldom “censor” a letter by not publishing it. Not only do we trust the readers (as stated above), but we fear that a writer whose letter is not published may take the wrong message. In this case, the writer might well have taken nonpublication to be a cover up and tacit proof of his theory. He would then harbor false beliefs that would come out in other ways. Finally, even though most do not see it this way, I am confident that the writer meant his letter to be constructive. He did not intend for it to be mean spirited. The true silver lining is that this episode proves that subscribers DO read their Gram! =================================================== Mail Call --------------------------------------------------- Dear Editor Today [#324] was best gram in a long time!!!!!! WONDERFUL. Now that we know Harold’s problem, we can help him. Name withheld, paraphrased from instant message [meant in humor] Dear Ort, Congratulations on your wonderful find! The only thing I enjoy more than hearing of terrific junk-box finds are making them myself. Keep up the good work. Marcus Turner Dear Editor, Regarding the critique of Harold "MPC KID" Kroll's "Have You Been Challenged?" article: I'm certainly not naive, nor are most adult readers of this newsletter, about the association of alcohol consumption with "challenges" whether they be by coins or any numerous other means. And neither Harold nor the Gram need any defending. That having been said, I also want to relate that, while reading Harold's article, it really didn't occur to me that alcoholic drinks were specifically being spoken about. Nor did it seem to be the point. Maybe because I've been a gramster for a while and have made some assumptions of my own. Maybe because of the scenarios ... a cross country CAR trip home?...a train station in Europe while on business?... a Saturday MORNING at a coin show with friends and spouses? Maybe because never was the word alcohol nor any alcoholic beverage even mentioned. My point though is that even in the name of political correctness, effective criticism need not be harsh and can be made with a bit of charity. I must commend you, the editor, for displaying just such charity and restraint in your brief response. Please renew my subscription at the standard rate. And Harold, please keep on writing and contributing! We enjoy it! Pocowles Dear Editor I'm doing something I promised myself that I would never do when I started writing the Thurski column. I knew that I would make mistakes as I am too old to know everything like our current crop of teenagers. Yes, I've placed LaGuardia in Chicago, and as Fred Reed pointed out "been an altered boy" (heaven forbid) and even forgot the contents of a Gram written last November. If you must know, most of the time I forget what happened yesterday. Something about the mind is the second thing to go (and I can't remember what's first, but its gone too). These letters were all constructive, offered to set the record straight and in most cases with well appreciated humor. However, in the last couple of weeks, there have been a couple of venomous letters written to the Gram by people who don't know what the hell they are talking about. I choose to ignore the one that criticizes me with threats to have me arrested, but I can not ignore unfounded statements that slander my friends by calling them drunks. I have known Harold Kroll for over two years now. We have gone to a number of shows together, roomed together at them, roomed together at both Fests and during that time I have seen Harold partake of only ONE glass of an alcoholic beverage. Yes, he smokes like a chimney, but that's not the subject here. That one drink was a beer with his dinner in Schwanheim, Germany a couple of weeks ago. He had that beer because he always enjoys a cup of coffee to start his meal and the coffee was so strong at this little restaurant that the spoon could be made to stand straight up in it. Water came only in a bottle and was expensive, so he had a beer. If the letter writer is going to blatantly call him a drunk for that, he needs to reevaluate his criteria. He goes on to slander all the good folks that attended the Fest, and says that he wouldn't attend the Fest because its only an excuse for drunks to out and get "sloshed-faced". Well, I don't think we would want him there, but let me tell you, that we did drink a lot at the Fest, if I remember correctly, it was eight cases of soda pop. And probably half of it was diet in case he has problems with people drinking diet beverages. Yes and we stayed up till the wee hours of the morning, talking about and telling stories about notes. That may bother him too. He probably can twist that into something that he disapproves of. Harold Kroll took time to write a good article to help promote this hobby. Challenge coins and their forerunners, the short snorter have been around since at least World War II. He gets nothing for writing the article and he sure shouldn't get grief. Yes, we have fun with these challenge coins and we have drunk a lot of Cokes and coffee using them. If that's a sin, so be it. This letter writer should take up politics or journalism. Without knowing any of the facts, he went on slander and criticize folks. Some of our politicians would be proud of him and probably offer him a job as a speech writer since he can fabricate a scenario so well. It's no wonder that morale has gotten so bad in the military, when we have such opinionated troops running around half cocked. --Larry Smulczenski Dear Editor, In response to PJ "GET MY SHIT TOGETHER" GALLIGAN2@juno.com: a/k/a PJ "Should have gotten fragged" GALLIGAN2@juno.com I want to know what gave you the impression the Fest was full of drunks? I want you to know, here and now, that I never consume alcohol, and I was in attendance. Nobody there was "sloshed faced." Nobody there was drunk. Not even tipsy. No alcohol was in presence, at Fest, and I am unaware of any brought back to private rooms. I would like you to, NO, I DARE YOU TO, publish the name of the individual who said these libelous statements to you. I KNOW YOU were not in attendance, so you MUST have gotten it second hand. The reason? I want to confront this person personally. Let me make another thing clear, I hope you are NEVER in attendance. I think you should not be so critical of people you have not met, and if I can have my way, will never meet. If I continue to think about your statement, I may really say something I mean, so I'll leave it at: GET YOUR S**T TOGETHER. Sincerely, Philip M. Goldstein, IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Deer Gram, Wassh da (hic) promem wish (hic) drunks? We (hic) helpsh keeps the (hic) lickka insdusty in zibness. (hic) Ifs this guy (hic) gilligan, hases a promem (hic) BARTENDER! Another double!, then this guy (hic) no hasta comes (hic) to da Fest. I thinks (hic) he shoulds be a more (hic) fergiven, about peoples with (hic) a problem. He apparentsly (hic) has one..... (hic) Intolerance! Signed, Two Fingers Freddy a/k/a Jack Daniels =================================================== 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 3/22/01. These folks have generously provided money or material to finance scholarships to the ANA WWII Numismatics seminar. Your contributions will help promote collecting WWII material and be greatly appreciated. Many donations were received at CPMX and MPCFest. Mr. Anonymous Donor, Mike Cummings, Sue and Keith Bauman, Ed B., Doug Bell, Tom Denly, Denly's, R. A. Medina, Harold “MPCKid” Kroll, Leo "Paymaster" May, Mrs. R.C. Matherne, Bill McNease, Mel and Jeremy Steinberg, Marcus Turner, Larry Ski, Guido, Fred, PK6, Joel Shafer, World Wide Ventures, Pam West, John and Nancy Wilson, Neil Shafer, W. E. Yanchick, Mark Watson, Al Glaser, Phil Goldstein, Rod Hardy, Wesley Hardy, Gary Hicks, Jack Lippincott, Ian Marshall, Kevin Maloy, David Seelye, Nick Schrier, Elmer Smith, Dan Swartz, Tom Warburton, Dick Freyser, Tim Kyzivat ==================================================== 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. FOR SALE For Sale: German Konversionskasse Scrip, used to finance the war effort and also is stated that they were given to the Jewish people in exchange for their money and valuables to be redeemed when they were released. Of course we know now that this did not take place. Choice CU 5RM 1933 Series B @65.00, Choice CU 5RM !934 Red Overprint, Series E @75.00 or the pair for 120.00 ppd. Contact Mpckid@papermoneyworld.com FOR SALE: Application for U.S. Defense Savings Bonds-Series E, Treasury Department Form PDE 1686 circa World War II, 8.5" X 5.5", AU $3.00 ppd. frank.clark@rediform.com Here is what is available from MPCFest II: Souvenir card $25 (50 produced) Bronze “challenge coin” $5 Copper “challenge coin” $25 (silver sold out, only one of copper available) In addition to the above souvenirs, the following MFC Series 011 notes are available at face value. Note, these are NOT souvenirs as they are still current and spendable. Series 011 $1, 2, 5, 10, and 20, total face value of one set $38. Payment can be accepted by all of the traditional means including paypal using fred@papermoneyworld.com. Traditional paper payments may be sent to Fred Schwan, 132 E. Second St., Port Clinton, Oh 43452. WANTED Collectors may submit lists of items wanted for their collections for listing here. Dealers and collectors who have these items are then encouraged to list them for sale in the above section. This is a trial, if you like it, send your list. =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Tueseday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski cloumnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski – ski@papermoneyworld.com 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! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/