Return-Path: Received: from web5203.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.97]) by hazard.mail.mindspring.net (Mindspring Mail Service) with SMTP id t5d6vn.gcl.37kb01i for ; Fri, 5 Jan 2001 23:15:51 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <20010106041550.12653.qmail@web5203.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [152.163.194.176] by web5203.mail.yahoo.com; Fri, 05 Jan 2001 20:15:50 PST Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 20:15:50 -0800 (PST) From: MPCgram Subject: MPC Gram 217 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 217 Friday - 5 January 2001 Military Challenge Coins by Howard A. Daniel, III I have been a member of the Non-Commissioned Officers Association (NCOA) for over thirty years. At one time, I was involved with creating a chapter in Heidelbery, Germany and naming it after General George Patton, since the local barracks where most of the troops were billeted was named after him. I wrote a letter to his son and somewhere in my files is a letter in which he approved the naming of the chapter after his father. The NCOA Journal is published in a magazine format with a color cover. The November/December 2000 issue has "Military Coins, Rich in Tradition" and a color photograph of twenty-two pieces that have been known to me as"Military Challenge Coins." Inside is an article titled "What is a Coin Really Worth?" by MCPOCG Vincent Patton, who is the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard (how is that for a moniker?). I wonder if he is related to General Patton. He writes that these "coins" were also known as "Recognition Coins" and "Award Medallions." I think the appropriate name for them would be "Recognition Medallions" since they are not coins nor are they always awards. He writes about their historical background dating back to "TheBoer War" in South Africa, to World War II, the Vietnam War, and up to today. The chief's article goes on to describe about twenty of these pieces and how they were acquired by twenty different military personnel. There is a color picture of the obverse or reverse of each piece. As I read each story, I remember a few times in the "old" days when some Army Special Forces comrades of mine would slap their "Challenge Coin" on the bar or table and every other man wearing a green beret in the room had to be carrying his and slap it down too. If one or more of them were not carrying it, they paid for a round of drinks for everyone. Since I did not wear a beret, I did not have to worry about buying a round. An excellent recent article about these pieces was written by Michelle Oranzo in "Coin World" in the past six months or so. She found the story behind the current U.S. military's use of these pieces and illustrated many of them in her article. I am not sure she has copies of the article, but it might be worthwhile to email Michele at MOrzano@CoinWorld.com for a copy, if you want it for your library. As I read this article and remembered some of the "old" days, it came to my mind that we MPC collectors should have our own "Recognition Medallion" to use when we want to tell our story to someone, but also to challenge our fellow MPCers when we meet in a drinking hole somewhere in the world. How about it? Does anyone out there think they can come up with a good design for our own "Recognition Medallion"? On the same pages with the article were ads by PBS Group Inc., 3400 N.E.Parkway, Suite 1203, San Antonio, TX 78218 and an email of interprt@txdirect.net; and for D&R Military Specilities with only the telephone numbers of 520-399-1527 and 707-422-4446. There are several more manufacturers of these pieces who have web sites, so after there is an"approved" design, it could be forwarded to all of them for bids. I am forwarding this particular issue of the "NCOA Journal" to Michele, so she can see more information about these pieces and I hope will write a follow on article about them. Then I will request she mail it to Fred Schwan so it can go into the Official MPCGram Library, if there is such a thing, or to someone who wants it for their personal library. I am sure someone will claim it at the next MPC Fest. ==================================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- Firday was another very busy day at FUN. Most of the people from earlier in the week were still here and more arrived. Lots of notes found new homes. Many of these will be the subject of future stories. If you were here (or even if you were not) and you found some interesting things, it is YOUR responsibility to share it with everyone! On a (very) bad note, MPC Kid lost three MPC replacements on the floor of the show. It is possible that they were stolen, but we prefer to belive that it was a simple loss. The numbers are listed below. If anyone finds these replacements please report it to the gram immediately! LOST Replacements: Series 641 10c J00339609 Seires 641 25c J00403066 Series 692 50c E00312996 ==================================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Joe (Boling), I enjoyed your article about those Medals of the famous Japanese ships of WWII and I am interested in seeing all of the pictures and reading all your summaries, if possible! I am very much into Japanese Battleships and other surface warships!! Too bad that those Medals are silver as I would enjoy getting some of the ships i am interested in but, I am sure the cost is too much for me! Maybe you could also include any E-mail or Internet addresses that have those Medals or ones close to them?? If you could E-mail me all your pictures and info, it would not cost you any postage, too!! Thanks for your great article!! I collect the following items and wonder if you are possibly a collector of any of these also?? I collect World Coins (I have presently 410 different countries out of 1,900 World Coins...mostly "BU" or "UNC"), World PM, JIM Notes, I will be getting some P.I. Gurella money soon, I will also be getting some German Notgeld PM, I also have German and French Notgeld Coins, German Inflationary PM & and coins during that era, World's Worst Inflationary money of 1993 from Yugoslavia and Bosneia, Tokens of ALL kinds, Medals, Medallions, Chips (Some Casino Chips that have been "Retired" from service), Bi-Metallic Coins (I am also a member of "W.B.C.C" Club & also a member of "Coin Masters" and have an article or two in their Newsletter presently), some Leper Colony Coins, Nazi coins, Nazi Occupation Coins from Belgium, Russian Rouble from from the Czar Period, etc.!! John T. Beckman, III. =================================================== 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 11/22/00 Mike Cummings Ed B. Doug Bell R. A. Medina Harold MPCKid Kroll Bill McNese Marcus Turner Larry Ski Fred PK6 Joel Shafer World Wide Ventures John & Nancy Wilson Neil Shafer ----------------------------------------------------- MPC Fest II ----------------------------------------------------- MPC Fest is the annual feast of MPC. After some difficulties of coordination we have not changed the dates and tentatively scheduled 9-11 March 2001 for MPC Fest II. If these dates cause a problem, please write the gram immediately. ==================================================== 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. MPC Series 472 25c CU, $180, David Seelye, coinman@rochester.rr.com. MPC Series 641 $10 with flipper serial number (the number is still a number when held upside down) f-vf, $22. verify at fred@papermoneyworld.com. ============================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein 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!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/