Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web12707.mail.yahoo.com ([216.136.173.244]) by runyon.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tqfcr7.rpn.37kbi7f for ; Tue, 18 Sep 2001 16:49:43 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010918204939.42858.qmail@web12707.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [208.35.162.12] by web12707.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 18 Sep 2001 13:49:39 PDT Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 13:49:39 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 437/3 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 437 Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Another instance of official counterfeiting? by Joe Boling I received a dealer's list with an offer of Burma P1, the Indian 5 rupee with portrait of King George V (KGV) and overprinted LEGAL TENDER IN BURMA ONLY - but described in the list as a counterfeit. I immediately called and ordered it. When it arrived, I inspected it carefully - I happen to have the basic Indian note (without the Burma overprint), in the other signature, so I was able to do a careful comparison. The fake note is of obviously lower print quality, yet very good - definitely passable. Even the peculiar serial number font from the Nasik print works is competently copied. Of greatest interest are two other security features. First, the watermark is plainly visible in the paper, featuring a black and white star and rays, and the words GOVERNMENT OF INDIA in white. Second, the back tint is a beautiful variegated green-lilac-green color. Both of these are very difficult to fake. There is no evidence that the watermark is printed on the surface of the paper on either face or back (a favorite way to fake watermarks is to print them in pale yellow or pale brown ink, so that when held to the light they appear to be present in the paper). In any event, one cannot easily fake a white watermark using surface printing. I was perplexed by the watermark. That second feature is also unusual on a counterfeit. I have any number of fakes that replicate variegated tints by using discrete colors, clearly separated from each other; nobody makes fakes with truly variegated tints (colors merging gradually from one into the other). I called the dealer and opined that this was not a back-alley production; someone at governmental level had to have made this. My guesses were Japan or China; I thought that either could have had a use for British colonial notes before or during the war. (I now know that the KGV notes were withdrawn in India in 1941, and presumably about the same time in Burma, so even a during-the-war use was probably too conspicuous to please a faker). I asked if he had any provenance on the pieces. I also discussed the problem of determining how the watermark had been replicated. He mentioned that he had another piece that was coming apart - it just happened to be splitting on the same end as the watermark. I immediately ordered that note as well. When it arrived I could see that the note has been printed on two pieces of paper, the face thicker than the back. Where the paper was peeling apart, I could see that the watermark has been replicated using some sort of white paste-like substance, applied by a technique similar to silk screening to the back of the face piece of paper. Then the sheets were glued together, leaving the sandwiched applique to make dark and light patterns just like a standard watermark. Very sexy. That still does not explain how the variegated colors were printed. The presses that do that kind of work are not generally available, and counterfeiters who attempt that kind of printing technique have a very difficult time controlling the application of the two colors of ink in a narrowly defined space. The combination of the effort that was undertaken to replicate the watermark and the access to a security press still leaves me feeling that this is an "official" counterfeit. However, digging into the marvelous recent book by Kishore Jhunjhunwalla et al, titled "Indian Paper Money," shows that these counterfeiters booted some elementary matters. The serial blocks of the two pieces I have are P/6 and Q/77. Only blocks S and T were used for the Burma notes. Furthermore, the notes I have both bear the signature of J.B. Taylor; only J.W. Kelly signed the notes that were used for Burma (Taylor did sign block P and part of Q, but those notes were not used for the Burma overprints). Finally, the Burma overprints come in two varieties: black in the centers of face and back, or red in the margins of face and back. My two notes have the overprint in black in the center face, but at the bottom back, where the black overprint was not used. What were these guys thinking? Maybe that had some Indian fakes that they could not pass, so they later converted them to Burmese use by applying the overprints, even though these particular blocks were never used in Burma. You might well ask if the pierces were prepared for collectors in recent years. They do not appear to have been; they are foxed and insect-eaten, and, as I said, one is delaminating under the influence of exposure to moisture and tropical storage. No, they look like vintage products. There was another 5 rupee and a 10 rupee, all from the same source; unfortunately, sold elsewhere before I became aware of them. I have now talked to the person who was the source for my dealer. He says that the notes came from Yunnan province, China. That's the province that borders the opium-producing regions of Burma and Lao. If drug money (even 1930s drug money) was involved in making these, it's possible that access to security presses might have been obtainable, even by a non-governmental counterfeiter. Baksheesh gets lots of favors. Do any of you readers know anything about these notes? Write Article--win Cash by Howard Daniel Heritage has a contest where the best numismatic article sent to them can win $5000. Yes, I wrote $5000. You do not have to join their web site, but to vote for an article, you will need to join. If you do not like being a member or even like them, you can be deleted after the contest. At their home page, click on Features, then on More Numismatic Articles to see all submitted to date. I have submitted an article at http://www.heritagecoin.com/Features/NumisArticles/Index.asp?SID=4C18856 92E5A42B5A16583E6B06BCAB6. The title is September 11th And Its Aftermath. Please visit the site and give me your vote for my article, if you like it. Please submit an article yourself, and it can be previously published so you do not have to write something new. I visit the site every couple of days to vote one to five stars for the new submitted articles. Some of them are pretty good, but there are none about MPC. Who is going to submit the first MPC article and win this contest? ============================================== Editorial ----------------------------------------------- I took a look at the Heritage writing contest as described by Howard Daniel above. At the moment there are only a few paper money (and related) articles, but there is an article on WWII Canadian coinage and a few things of personal interest to me but not likely to be of interest to many other gramsters. However, the concept is GREAT! Articles need not be unpublished so Gram contributors can submit articles that have appeared in the Gram and elsewhere. I expect to submit some articles and suggest that you do the same. I hope that we can have a higher density of MPC (and similar/related) articles than any other subject. ============================================== Mail Call ----------------------------------------------- Joe Boling - Well, the color of the 25 dinar "blurry" note is a matter of view. I just showed my wife a note and asked her what color it is and she said "teal blue." It seems slightly greenish in the center, a bit bluish on the borders, and brownish around Saddam's uniform. I see that in my original article I said that the notes were so blurry that they "appear" gray. That doesn't mean that they were gray, it just means that they are so blurry that it is difficult to identify a specific color. I don't know if this is the note you saw, but if it is the blurry note produced by the 4th PSYOP Group in Saudi Arabia, that is the one you should have seen. I do have exactly one extra note and the cost is $25 if you want it. This is the note with the text: "No amount of money will buy back your honor" (or literally) "Honor will never be regained no matter what the cost is." You should know that there are two forgeries of these notes circulating. I should say forgeries of the clear notes that were made up in Turkey. One was made by a dealer in Mississippi, the other was made by Kaufmann militaria in NYC. These notes were sharp and clear and cannot be confused with the Saudi notes. Herb F. Dear Gram, On September 8, 2001 I was going through a professionally-conducted estate sale from a home in Omaha. It was apparent that the recently-deceased owner of the house was a WWII or Korean War veteran. There was a pile of "free," i.e. junk stuff. I looked into it and found a series 481 note 10 cent in fine condition along with a Mt. Rainer postage stamp showing the same picture as the 661 $1 back. Suspecting that the owner might have more than what was in the free pile, I searched through the whole house but found no other MPCs or MPC-related items. Even though the note is of no significance I was sad because even the professional staff had no idea what the note was. If they thought it was worth a dime, it would not be in the free pile. I am willing to bet that the veteran brought the MPC note back home with him after his service to the United States. Best regards, Trung T. Nguyen ================================================ 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. ---------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- 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 distribution manager - Brad Peacock bp22@swbell.net 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/