Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web12706.mail.yahoo.com ([216.136.173.243]) by farley.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tq864b.s2v.37kbi1c for ; Sat, 15 Sep 2001 23:12:11 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010916031208.91132.qmail@web12706.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [205.188.192.179] by web12706.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sat, 15 Sep 2001 20:12:08 PDT Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 20:12:08 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 434/3 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 434 Saturday, September 15, 2001 Series 591 MPC in the Philippines by Ray Czahor I just happened to review some old (1977) Philippine documents. In the July 1977 issue of the Central Bank Money Museum Quarterly, the "BARILLA," there was a 7 page article, "MPCs and Philippine Numismatics" by John Semeniuk (Name rings a bell but I can't place him). He described why MPC was used in the Philippines and the fact that MPC vignettes were used on earlier Philippine paper money. He pointed out that Series 461, 471, 472, 481, 521, 541, and 591 were used in the Philippines since 1946, gives their printing history, sizes, designs, etc. I have been bugging Fred on why he didn't show Series 591 was used in the Philippines in earlier books and that it had been invalidated January 6, 1964 while I was stationed there. Well, I have to eat a little crow as my memory wasn't totally accurate. In his article, John points out that Series 591 was withdrawn from use in the Philippines months earlier, on September 10, 1963. I arrived in the Philippines in late March 1963 and my new wife joined me in late June. We certainly remember using MPC ( and Philippine Pesos) then as it was our first experience in using other than US money. I would be happy to make copies of the article for anyone interested. Watson donates, money tripled! Collector, seminarian, and future Fester Mark Watson has made a generous donation to the ANA summer seminar scholarship fund. Watson raised the money by selling some on ebay some of the notes that he received at the 2000 inagueral ANA military money summer seminar. The notes saw active bidding and now have new homes and the money will go to a good cause by helping to send another collector to the seminar. The donation is even more important because it is being matched by donations from Guido Crapanzano and Harold Kroll. This effectively triples Marks' donation and you can have your donation tripled to by making a donation of money or material now! See details below and contact Marcus Turner now! ============================================== Editorial ----------------------------------------------- Ray's story about is wonderful! Yes, he has been bugging me about including Series 591 in the MPC book as having been used in the Philippines. First, let me say that I had made that change as suggested by Ray. However, it brings up a very interesting point. In general for our research I oppose using unconfirmed memories to support or refute listings. There are many cases of poor memories falling well intended people. One interesting partial exception to this "rule" pertains to numismatists. Collectors who were collecting at the time of the observation are much more likely to make correct observations about such things. This is why I had made the decision to include 591 in the listings for the Philippines. The news about the "unique" conversion/reversion (to US dollars) is totally new. With a little bit of misgiving we are accepting the published data as sufficient justification to use this date. We will, however, look for additional support for this date. By the way, John Semeniuk is the legendary researcher on MPC vignettes. He has done great work in this area. Unfortunately, as far as we know he does not have email and does not receive the Gram, but we would like to fix that problem. If anyone has recent contact with John and especially an eamil address, please forward this to John, and his address to us. Finally, Ray, please send a copy of the article to Gram Headquarters at 132 E. Second Street, Port Clinton, OH 43452. ============================================== Mail Call ----------------------------------------------- Dear Editor, Recent comments about Philippine guerrilla money brought this to mind. I was Antiaircraft Staff Officer on the staff of the 5th Fighter Command during WW II. A Signal Corps officer, Captain West was occasionally seen in the headquarters, though, as I look back at it, I believe he might not have been assigned, but attached for "rations and quarters." In any case, I discovered that he, before and at least for awhile after we landed at Leyte, made regular trips by submarine and air into the Philippines visiting guerrilla forces. What the purpose was for these trips, I don't know, but notice that he went into the PI's by AIR BEFORE we landed at Leyte. He told me that on the island of Mindanao a village was built on skids, so that he, and who and what else I can only imagine, needed to land in a C-47, the village was "pulled" off the airstrip and put back until the aircraft needed to take off. When, how long and how often West made these trips into the Philippines, I have no idea, but I thought this bit of trivia might be of interest to Gramsters. I might add, no mention of him and his activities was ever mentioned during regular staff meetings during the time I was in the 5th Fighter Command headquarters. To put this into time context: I was transferred from the 40th AAA Brig to HQ, 5th Ftr CMD, 1 January 1945, while the HQ was still in Biak, but didn't meet CPT West until the HQ was in Tacloban, Leyte. Here it is again, Fred. Slightly amended as you can see. Bill Murray ================================================ Departments ------------------------------------------------- Calendar of events for Gramsters maintained by Howard Daniel, Nancy and John Wilson and Gram staff, last updated September 7, 2001 show reports are requested on all events. Even if it was not a great show, there must be something to report. What and whom did you see? Market activity? Share your observations and thoughts with Gramsters everywhere. ---------------------------------------------------- Updated calendar will be published later in the week. --------------------------------------------------- Donations are now being accepted for scholarships to the 2002 "Military Money" course at the 2002 ANA Summer Seminar. Inquiries and donations should be sent to: Military Numismatists c/o Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, IN 46123 Donors to 2002 Scholarship Fund Steve Feller Harold Kroll R. A. Medina Guido Crapanzano David Seelye Steve Feller Harold Kroll R. A. Medina Guido Crapanzano David Seelye Leo May Warner Talso Marv Mericle Mark Watson ==================================================== 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 Series 661 $5.00 GEM Crisp Unc $25.00 insured postpaid. Series 481 $0.25 1st printing Crisp UNC $60.00 insured postpaid. coinman@rochester.rr.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 - MPCGram@Yahoo.com; Assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Tuesday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski columnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski –skifla@prodigy.net Critic: Harold Kroll - MPCKid@AOL.com; Index manager: Ed Beaman Webmaster & technical advisor: Doug Bell - (Wiz): doug@papermoneyworld.net; 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. __________________________________________________ Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help? Donate cash, emergency relief information http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Emergency_Information/