Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5201.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.95]) by tyner.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id th9u46.4rq.37kbi5q for ; Wed, 30 May 2001 09:41:26 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010530134121.24833.qmail@web5201.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [64.12.102.196] by web5201.mail.yahoo.com; Wed, 30 May 2001 06:41:21 PDT Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 06:41:21 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 350 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 350 Wednesday, May 30, 2001 Azad Hind Enigma By Herb Friedman I need some help from our readers with some Azad Hind (Free India) notes I recently purchased. The story of Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army is well known. There is even a rumor that he had bank notes prepared for his provisional government during World War II, although they have never been seen. The notes I am talking about are probably commemorative pieces issued as part of a fund-raising campaign. They all claim to originate from the Azad Hind Bank. There was such a bank in Rangoon, but there is no way to be certain that the notes in question came from that bank. I am aware of notes in the following denominations; two five rupee values, one 10 rupee value, two 100 rupee values, and one 500 rupee value. Three such notes are illustrated in "World War Two Remembered," BNR Press, Schwan and Boling, page 768. I would like to write about these strange bank notes, but I simply do not have enough data at the moment. If you can shed light on any of these notes, their uses, dates of issue, or any other pertinent data it would be appreciated. I would also like to know more about the Azad Hind Bank. Readers can write me at Herb Friedman, 734 Sunrise Avenue, Bellmore NY 11710, or E-mail me at BertF@webtv.net. Currency Auctions of America Joins Heritage Dallas, Texas Opportunities for buyers and sellers of paper money have significantly increased with the creation of the world's largest rare coin and currency dealership and auctioneer. Currency Auctions of America (CAA) now has become a division of the country's largest numismatic auction house, Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Inc, of Dallas, Texas. The combination will result in more frequent CAA auctions at conventions around the country and twice-monthly auctions on the Internet. CAA founders Leonard Glazer of Forest Hills, New York and Allen Mincho of Spicewood, Texas, two of the top currency experts in the world, will continue to operate CAA full-time. They will be responsible for all consignments, grading and cataloging. "Now there will be unprecedented opportunities and advantages for paper money collectors, consignors and bidders. CAA will offer more material, more often, and have greater access to potential bidders because of Heritage's huge customer base, marketing expertise, and advanced technology," said Heritage Co-Chairman, Steve Ivy. Heritage expects auction sales of approximately $50 million in 2001, again ranking it as the top numismatic auctioneer in the United States. Total sales for all Heritage companies are expected to exceed $175 million in 2001. The company has an active mailing list of 50,000 names and its web site has over 37,000 members and growing. CAA had sales in excess of $10 Million in 2000 to approximately 1,000 active buyers, and will likely far surpass those numbers in 2001. "CAA and its clients now will benefit from Heritage's technology, financial power and marketing proficiency. This gives CAA the unmatched ability to attract potential consignors and bidders, which means more choices for paper money collectors whether it's an auction sale or fixed-price listing," CAA Vice President Allen Mincho stated. Online interactive bidding and paper money search engine capabilities will be available at www.CurrencyAuction.com and www.HeritageCoin.com. Among the other advantages collectors will have with the CAA-Heritage merger: * Auction lots for the September CAA sale in Cincinnati now will also be available for viewing through Heritage at the American Numismatic Association convention in Atlanta in August; * all CAA catalogs also will be available in CD-ROM format as well as online; * and lead-times will be shortened between consignment deadlines and sale dates. "The merger also means CAA will have greater financial resources to offer cash advances to consignors and to make outright purchases of all types of currency," CAA President Len Glazer added. The Heritage Group includes Heritage Rare Coin Galleries, Heritage Numismatic Auctions, and Currency Auctions of America, which together comprise the world's largest dealer and auctioneer of rare coins and currency. The Heritage name is recognized worldwide for selection, quality, value, expertise, financial strength and technological and numismatic leadership. Year 2000 sales exceeded $150 million and assets were approximately $30 million as audited by Arthur Andersen & Company. www.HeritageCoin.com is the Internet's most popular and highly trafficked rare coin site with over 37,000 registered members and approximately 80,000 unique users per month. HeritageCoin.com is the only coin site ever chosen by Forbes Best of the Web. McGraw Hill recently recommended its "Virtual Coin Collection" as an excellent teaching resource. It also won the most recent Numismatic Literary Guild award for Best Numismatic Web Site. Note: The following Heritage executives are available for telephone interviews by the press regarding all non-confidential aspects of this merger: Heritage Co-Chairman James Halperin Chief Operating Officer Paul Minshull Allen Mincho Leonard Glazer =============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- We continue to struggle from the effects of our holiday weekend AWOL! The price was high! Snail mail, email, faxes, and phone messages are stacked high. They just about cover the piles of undone tasks left behind so the total is rather massive. If this sounds like whining to you, well, it is! Smile. Thanks for all of the submissions of letters, articles, inquiries and other items. They will help us get the Gram back on schedule. Please send more! =========================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Editor, In the text about the table (in the MPC book) of countries where MPC was used, you say that there are "unconfirmed reports" of MPC being issued in Algeria, Denmark, etc. Why unconfirmed? Doesn't the Army know where they issued MPC? There must be something here I don't understand. Thanks, Warner Hello Warner, Thanks for the good question. First, there are no ultimate sources of information of this nature. Certainly the info does exist in some archive somewhere, but finding it is another thing. The comment about unconfirmed use stems from reports that differ from official sources. In general we try to rely upon official sources. Sometimes this apparently good policy is to the consternation of collectors. This seems like a simple approach, but it is far from it. First there is the distinct possibility that official sources may differ. Then we have the situation where collectors report something that differs from official sources. Collectors have reported that this or that issue was not used in this or that area. This type of report is relatively easily dismissed to failing memory or localized experiences although we try to take note of such reports and watch for additional information on the subject. More difficult to dismiss are reports from collectors that this or that issue was used in an area not listed. Obviously, memories can cause problems in this case too, but it is less of a problem because it has to do with a memory rather than lack of a memory. In these cases reports are more credible if the person was a collector at the time. The very best example is Libya. MPC was used in Libya. There is no doubt about it, and it was critical MPC use—Series 651! The first evidence was a collector report. Thereafter we searched and checked more official sources, but the results were in doubt. In doubt that is until Gary Snover and Larry Smulczenski came up with a wonderful smoking gun. Gary found and sold to Larry a government check issued at the air base in Libya. It was payable in MPC! A great item in any collection at any time of course, but in this case it proved an important fact that had been in doubt. I hope that this has been helpful and/or interesting. Thanks again for the good question. Editor Hi everyone, I look forward to seeing you in Memphis for FUN? Oh, I get it! Peter Has been happily sorting through a box of tokens, which he says I should take to Memphis if there are so many Military collectors there. He has not had the pleasure of going to the Memphis show and I am always surprised that not every American collector of bank notes goes to it. But, the reality is that it does not always fit into everyone's schedule and America is bigger(sorry, much bigger) than England. So, see you Gramsters in a couple of weeks. Pam Hello Pam, If I may speak for “everyone,” we look forward to seeing you too. There is still time for Peter to sign up for the seminar! We colonists would love to have someone from the old world there to lend a little dignity! Editor ================================================ 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, Continental Coin Invensor, Inc., Denly's, R. A. Medina, Harold “MPCKid” Kroll, Leo "Paymaster" May, Mrs. R.C. Matherne, Bill McNease, Marv Mericle, 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 Your items for sale will be listed in the Gram for FREE. Send your listings now. You items for sale support the gram by making it more interesting for everyone! Steuergutschein new listings. See WWII Remembered for discussion of these issues. What we have here is a new denomination and style of “note” and in two varieties too! Steuergutschein 20 RM in vertical format good from April 45 through March 1946. This issue has been seen with large A or B in the background. The serial number prefixes seen are F and G respectively, but otherwise the pieces are identical. I have no idea what the intended difference might have been. These will be listed in the next Remembered, research information needed. In the meantime, we can offer one of each of these at $40 (each). Fred@papermoneyworld.com. 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 or 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 Tuesday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski columnist 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!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/