THE GREAT MPC REPLACEMENT COLLECTORS

 By Fred Schwan

I was pleased and interested to read the recent article by Carlson Chambliss on military payment certificates (MPC) in Numismatic News. I am a very critical reader of such articles. It was an informative and interesting article. I could not find any factual errors and nothing to criticize. Nothing that is until the final paragraph when Carlson suggests that collectors probably should not try collecting replacement MPC because it is impossible to complete such a collection.

This was in an issue that is still full of news about the Eliasberg collection. Imagine if Eliasberg had not attempted to collect all United States coins because it was impossible. I could list many collecting areas just in United States coins where completeness is not possible, but that does not stop people from collecting them. Certainly completeness can be a wonderful goal, but there are many other attractions to collecting MPC replacements.

I think that MPC replacements are the most wonderful thing that a person could possibly want to collect!  MPC replacements in particular have captivated the imagination of many collectors for at least the past 25 but probably closer to 50 years!

It is exciting to complete a collection, but think about this for a thrill. If you collect MPC replacements it is certain that you will be able to contribute to find notes to be added to the ongoing survey of MPC replacement serial numbers. There is also the very real  chance that you may find a piece in a junk box not previously known to exist in any collection. Even if you are not lucky enough to make this discovery yourself, you will probably have the opportunity to acquire pieces of which only a few are known to exist in any collection.

There have been some great collectors of military payment certificate replacements. Of course, some of the early pioneers in the study of military money —Ray Toy, Ruth Hill, and others—have been interested in and collected replacements. However, it has only been more recently that really great collections have been built by collectors who specialized in MPC replacements.

Gary Snover was one of the first to seriously pursue the replacements. He worked on his collection of replacements while he bought and sold regular issue certificates. This was probably in the middle 1970s. I remember receiving his “want” list of replacements on which he listed those that he had. I was stunned; he listed having 17 different replacements. That was a shocking collection at the time. Fortunately, he listed his notes by serial number so it will be possible to trace those notes back to his collection.

The first really great collection was that of Elmer Smith. He was the first collector to focus on replacements as his main area of collecting. He received and studied all lists and auction catalogs. He attended shows and looked for replacements everywhere. He wrote letters and made calls. If you had a replacement that Elmer wanted, he would buy it. If it was not for sale, he would develop a trade that could hardly be refused. When Elmer sold his collection no list was published so it has not generally been known what pieces he had—until now. Elmer has provided us with a list. It is interesting to compare his collection with the other great collections. The series 651 $1 jumps out because it was not in any of the other collections. When Elmer sold his collection, that piece went into a collection, but has not made it back to one of these “great collections.”

Jerry Voigt was a collector in the mold of Elmer. The biggest difference was that Jerry collected many other things while he collected MPC replacements. In addition to MPC and all other military money, Jerry collects military award medals. He is a born collector.

Jerry really worked the telephone to find replacements for his collection and he made some wonderful discoveries. Every dealer in the country carried his want list and the results speak for themselves. When Jerry sold his collection, it was certainly the finest that had been assembled. Fortunately, a list was published of the Voigt collection so details regarding his collection are available for all. Unfortunately, it is not easy to locate a copy of this list; I do not have one (at least I cannot find it). After the sale, dealers quite carrying Jerry’s want list because he was no longer a likely customer. In place of his want list, they carried his sales list because it was the most comprehensive price guide that had ever been published.

Alex Kesselman took a different approach. He ignored replacements until he had assembled the finest collection of regular-issue military payment certificates. Only after he had completed that collection did he move into replacements. At first he insisted on sticking only to the highest possible condition, just as he had with the regular issues. However, he soon realized what all of the great replacement collectors have learned, that one should take good replacements when the opportunity is there. Too often second chances do not happen. Alex had a huge advantage over Elmer and Jerry; he had the opportunity to buy from the Voigt collection! A catalog was published when the Kesselman collection was sold. It is still a reference worth having although it too is difficult to locate.

Edwin Meidam used a completely different approach to build his collection. Oh, he bought a few key pieces from dealers, but that was not his primary method. He examined many thousands of groups of paper, scrapbooks, and the like at flea markets, swap marts, gun shows, and garage sales. He attended hundreds, probably thousands, of these events and he found amazing things. In addition to a large replacement collection, he assembled two complete (90 pieces) collections of regular issues and thousands of other “duplicates.” Included among Mr. Meidam’s “junk box” finds was the first recorded series 471 50¢ replacement. (In one of those amazing twists of collecting fate, the second example was found at a local coin show by another collector only a few months later!)

Unfortunately, Mr. Meidam died before he could distribute his collection himself. The collection was sold intact by his family to a dealer who then sold the replacement collection to another dealer at a Memphis Paper Money Show. Of course the collection is now widely distributed, but because no list was published the notes are not attributed to the Meidam collection. It might be possible to at least partially reconstruct a list of his collection, but it would not be easy.

Phil De Rosa has collected many things in numismatics, but MPC replacements seem to have captivated him more than the others. That intrigue that grabbed Elmer, Jerry, Alex, Gary, Amon Carter and others struck him as well. Phil was like Elmer and Jerry in the way that he dug out replacements. His want list was carried by many dealers, he searched price lists carefully, and if any replacements were in an auction, Phil would be a participant.

Like Jerry Voigt and Alex Kesselman, Phil changed some of the priorities in his life and sold replacement collection. Fortunately a list was published in the tradition of Voigt and Kesselman so the record of his collection will be available for use for years to come.

June Nusbaum is the current leader of the pack. We chatted at a New York coin show after she had added some pieces to her collection from the De Rosa sale. Some of these now have the Voigt-Kesselman-DeRosa-Nusbaum pedigree. She now has 71 different pieces. That this puts her in first place among reported collections, although there are several others right behind her. It also puts her in third place all time. The next one that she gets will tie her with the De Rosa collection.

June started with United States coins in the 1970s but left them behind because of prices that she thought were too high and the grading controversies worried her too.

About that time she saw some MPC in an exhibit somewhere. She made some inquiries of dealers at shows, got some lists, and in her own words “got hooked.” She bought a replacement in her very first group of MPC, but her first goal was to build a gem set of regular issue certificates. Again the prices were higher than she wanted to pay so she stopped collecting regular issue pieces and concentrated on replacements.

Again she has been frustrated at times be the prices that she has had to pay. She also describes the frustration of seeing an item on a list and calling only to find out that it has been sold. Of course she also describes the joy of finding a piece that had eluded her.

Perhaps June’s biggest frustration has been the treatment she has received from some dealers. She says that on too many occasions bourse dealers do not take her seriously. In spite of this frustration, she is enthusiastic about the prospects of more women getting involved in numismatics. Of course she thinks that they should collect MPC replacements.

June has started collecting a few other things along the way when MPC replacements were “slow,” but it is obvious from talking to her and seeing the inventory of her collection that they are her main interest.

Even if you do not follow in the steps of these collectors, you may set more modest goals. You might try to obtain just one from each series, or may try just those from the Viet Nam era or perhaps try any one series (none are really easy).

The accompanying table indicates the number of each replacement that is reported in the survey. Additionally, the chart has been coded to indicate which pieces were included in the some of the collections mentioned above. Remember, in many cases these collectors owned the very same piece so in theory it would be possible to show that a piece for which only two examples are reported was in three or four collections!

Remember, as always, that we are very interested in receiving reports of replacements that collectors have found. Replacement serial numbers have only a prefix, no suffix (as A00012345 instead of A00012345A). Please send a photocopy if possible along with your estimate of the condition.

Current results of the survey are summarized in the table below. Collectors and dealers have been carrying these charts to shows for years to aid their searches.

Confirmed replacements in collections

           461      15#‡*†         18#‡*†         5‡                 6#‡†             12#‡†           7#‡†             8‡†             -                       71

           471      3#‡*†            8#‡*†          4†                 2                     7#‡*†         3#                 2‡               -                       29

           472      28#‡*†         22#‡*†         0                   6#‡†             16#‡*†         2‡                 3#‡†           -                       77

           481      20#‡*†         31#‡*†       16#‡†             1                   11#‡*†         0                   4#               -                       83

           521      23#‡*†         13#‡†         11#‡*†           8‡†               10#‡†           7‡                 6#‡*†         -                       78

           541      44#‡*†         65#‡*†       20#‡*†         79#‡*†           18#‡†           0                   7‡†             -                     233

           591      28#‡*†           5#‡†           0                   3#‡                6#‡†            1                   4#‡†           -                       47

           611    123#‡*†       144#‡*†         6#‡†             1                   160#‡*†       11#‡*†         19#‡*†       -                     464

           641      70#‡*†         21#‡*†       25#‡*†         17#‡*†           15#‡*†         7‡†               24#‡*†       -                     179

           651    —                 —                 —                 —                     1‡               0                   5#‡*†         -                         6

           661      15‡†             51#‡*†       16‡†               4#‡*†           61#‡*†       14#‡*†           9#‡†           13#‡*†          183

           681      34#‡*†         22#‡†           5‡†             31#‡*†           26#‡*†       10#‡*†         15#‡*†         44#‡*†          187

           692      76#‡*†         70#‡*†       24#‡†           18#‡†             30#‡*†         3‡†               4#‡             20#‡*†          245

                                                                                          Grand total                                                       1882

                                                                                           Legend                 Smith (‡)                             76

                                                                                                                        De Rosa total (†)                72

                                                                                                                        Nusbaum                             71

                                                                                                                        Voigt total (#)                     68

                                                                                                                        Kesselman (*)                    50