Status: U Return-Path: Received: from mail.papermoneyworld.net ([207.3.91.49]) by kendall.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id u0vq40.l2j.37kbi2i for ; Thu, 6 Dec 2001 16:52:00 -0500 (EST) Subject: MPC GRAM Precedence: bulk Sender: mpcgram-owner@mail.papermoneyworld.net From: mpcgram-owner@mail.papermoneyworld.net (List Server) Date: Thu, 6 Dec 101 15:20:27 CDT Message-Id: <10112061520.AA49117095@mail.papermoneyworld.net> Reply-To: mpcgram@mail.papermoneyworld.net Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 04:52:43 -0800 (PST) From: MPCgram Subject: Re: MPC GRAM Reply-To: mpcgram@mail.papermoneyworld.net Hello, Sorry, this is the story that I typified as being about slot machine tokens. It is mostly about gambling, but the numismatic connection is about slot machine tokens. Fred ===== 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!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 05:40:44 -0800 (PST) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 505 Reply-To: mpcgram@mail.papermoneyworld.net ============================================== MPC Gram ============================================== Covering the Entire World of Military Numismatics ---------------------------------------------- Series 003-Number 505 Thurski, December 6, 2001 Remember Pearl Harbor By Larry “Ski” Smulczenski Tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked, a day that President Roosevelt declared "would live in infamy". I would venture to say that the number of Gramsters that were around on that Sunday in December 1942 are in a small minority. I was young boy of five and about the only thing that I can remember out of what has now turned into a real fuzzy past is my Dad standing in the kitchen by the radio listening to the breaking news. We had a small four-foot high chest of drawers in the kitchen, that mom kept her table cloths, napkins and other things for the table stored in. On top of that chest of drawers was a fairly large size rectangular Zenith radio, that Dad liked to stand close to, with an elbow of one arm supported by the chest of drawers and listen to the radio broadcast of his beloved Pittsburgh Pirates. I remember that announcers never attended the out of town ballgames, but sat in a studio and announced the game by reading what came over a teletype ticker. You could hear the ticker in the background, and then the announcers excitement over a hit or disappointment with an out. Dad was a typical armchair manager, informing Mom and us on how he could do a better job of running the team then "those guys" currently involved. But that day, he wasn't listening to baseball, he was aghast that the enemy had the gall and nerve to attack our Hawaiian Islands. We kids were told that our country was at war, but we were soon going to get those Japs! Yes, we were at war, as just minutes before 8 o'clock in the morning, Hawaiian time, Japanese aircraft attacked the "sleeping" Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. Bombs and torpedoes were dropped on the ships moored along Battleship Row. On the Oklahoma, the warning rang over the bullhorn, "Man your battlestations! This is no sh--!" But the warning came too late, and the Oklahoma was the first to die. A torpedo hit the Oklahoma squarely, causing a huge explosion shortly after the warning was sounded. Two more torpedoes peeled Oklahoma open like giant can openers and then two more finished her off. Oklahoma capsized, rolling over and sticking her mast into the muddy bottom of the harbor. Four hundred and fifteen officers and men lost their lives with the ship that morning. The Oklahoma was actually built prior to World War I as were most of the ships on Battleship Row. Her keel was laid down in October 1912, she was launched in March 1914 and commissioned on May 2, 1916. She underwent several retrofits over the years, the last in February 1941, before being sunk at Pearl Harbor. A number of crewmen were rescued from water tight compartments after the ship sank by cutting holes in the hull of the ship which now stuck out of the water. Oklahoma was righted and refloated in 1943 and eventually sold for scrap in 1946. All the superstructure above the main deck had to be cut off by Navy divers to lighten her and assist in refloating the vessel. A piece of the rusted mast cut from the ship today protrudes from the water near the southwest end of the harbor as a memorial to Oklahoma. It was left there by the Navy in the 1970's when the harbor was being dredged. In a bazarre ending the remaining hulk went to its final resting place in May 1947, when she sank, 540 miles NE of Pearl while under tow enroute to the states for salvage. One of the items that resides in my collection, is a waterstained receipt taken from a chit book from U.S.S. Oklahoma, Ships Service. It is from a one dollar book and was not torn from the booklet. There does not appear to be any writing on this receipt. The area around the staple holes is quite stained from the staple rusting. The back of this receipt shows a light imprint of a full strip of four 5-cent chits including what appears to be a red blur from the serial number. Since the tab of the receipt is intact and there is no writing visible and the full 5-cent strip imprint appears on the back, it is my guess that this was part of an unissued chit booklet. I got this item from good friend Jim Watson of St. Louis. Jim in turn says he got it from a friend who claims that a relative was a navy diver at Pearl and rescued this item from the Oklahoma when she was being righted and refloated. There is no way to prove the story, but with the water stains, the rust from the staple and the imprint of the chits on the back, it could quite possible have been an entire booklet that sunk with Oklahoma and the pieces separated while submerged. Besides it sure makes for a great Pearl Harbor Day story. Does anyone know of any chits from this ship? ============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------- Well, it seems that our attempt to fix a problem in Gram 504 actually made matters worse—a real mess in fact. Gram 504 will go down as a Gram of infamy. I guess that we NEVER ran the article from Howard Daniel about gambling and slot machine tokens. When we did run the submission by him of the article on challenge “coins,” we [I] got it twisted. Now I do not seem to have a copy of the Daniel article at all [Howard, can you send it again?]. I guess that the only solution is to extend everyone’s subscription. You can check the expiration date that is pasted on the front cover of the Gram for the extended date. ============================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------- Editor, Did I understand that there is only a hand full of AFLB known, or did I misunderstand what I read ? Keith Dear Keith, It is hard to say how many AFLBs there are as we have not made a particular effort to survey them, but they are indeed scarce, probably rare. Editor Dear Editor, Am I the only one getting the gram in my e mail list with a 12/31 date which lists them at the top of all my chronological e mails instead of todays date? I'm using netscape. Can anyone explain this recurring problem? Larry Gibbs Dear Larry, No you are not the only one. Our webmaster (Wiz) is working on the problem. Editor ================================================ 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. ---------------------------------------------------- Special "MPC" events March 2002 8-10 - MPCFest III - reservations in order received: Guido Crapanzano, Harold Kroll, Larry Smulczenski, Gary "Got any fours" Hicks, Tom Warburton, David Seelye, Jack Lippincot, Phil Goldstein, Warner Talso, Nick Schrier, Richard Freyser, Tom Koch, Mark Watson, Bill Yanchick, Doug Bell, Sam Feeback, Bruce Potter, Elmer Smith, Marv Mericle, Wes and Rod Hardy, Marcus Turner, Fred Schwan {running total 23}] Three airports are reasonably available for the Fest. In order of proximity they are: Toledo Cleveland Detroit (Metro) All three are reasonable. If you can arrive early enough AND coordinate it well ahead, every attempt will be made to pick you up at the airport to save on rental cars. Festers are encouraged to corridnate among themselves for rides. We will also run notices in the Gram and, finally, we will try to coordinate for Festers to run pickups from Fest central. W.W.II numismatics seminar at ANA Summer Seminar, July 2002 Session I (Sunday, June 30 through Thursday, July 4, 2002) Session II (Sunday, July 7 through Thursday, July 11, 2002) general events will return soon --------------------------------------------------- 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 Leo May Warner Talso Marv Mericle Mark Watson Gail Baker ==================================================== 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 The following list of MPC replacements is available. Please email to confirm. issue/ # Reported /Serial number/ Pos # /Con / Price 461 $1 19 A00377503 48 VF $750.00 472 5c 34 C00624708 79 F/VF $300.00 472 $1 21 C00040842 6 F $650.00 481 10c 38 D00170337 22 VG/F $150.00 481 25c 21 D01617344 35 discolored XF $575.00 541 5c 45 F01193155 66 VG $200.00 541 5c 45 F01761339 53 GCU $800.00 541 10c 70 F00954890 36 F $100.00 541 50c 89 F11020164 44 VF $200.00 591 5c 31 G00425460 54 F+ $195.00 611 5c 127 H00331092 42 GCU $185.00 611 10c 145 H00282786 36 GCU $195.00 611 $1 170 H00016589 3 VG $100.00 641 5c 90 J00721442 7 VG/F $50.00 641 10c 29 J00482501 61 ink 8 rev. F $175.00 641 $10 59 J00483291 11 discolored VF $200.00 661 10c 59 B00058454 8 CU $700.00 661 $1 75 B00253005 32 stained F $100.00 681 5c 42 C00281032 36 F $100.00 681 50c 35 C00072051 10 CU $750.00 681 $1 28 C00330407 42 GCU $950.00 681 $20 43 C00057576 8 F $500.00 692 5c 100 E00473007 60 F $75.00 692 10c 83 E00561106 71 F $85.00 692 25c 38 E00065719 9 F $200.00 692 50c 25 E00233975 30 XF $575.00 Confirm with Ed Hoffman hoffman@rabbitbrush.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. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com