Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5203.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.97]) by farley.mail.mindspring.net (Mindspring Mail Service) with SMTP id t7liqm.6spi.37kbi1c for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 09:59:34 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <20010202145933.14282.qmail@web5203.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [205.188.197.164] by web5203.mail.yahoo.com; Fri, 02 Feb 2001 06:59:32 PST Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 06:59:32 -0800 (PST) From: MPCgram Subject: MPC Gram 243 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 241 Friday 2 February 2001 The Army Historical Foundation By Howard A. Daniel III In 1983, The Army Historical Foundation was created by retired U.S. Army personnel to promote the creation of a national Army museum in the National Capital Region (NCR), which is the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The museum will preserve the material culture of the American soldier and to educate and inspire the Army and the Nation. The foundation is also involved in grants to other Army museums, and awards to writers and publishers. All of the work over the past seventeen years has finally resulted in the U.S. Army signing a Memorandum of Agreement on September 28, 2000 to establish a National Army Museum in the NCR. A site has not yet been selected and there is no building design yet created, but the show is finally on the road. Some of the material that will be displayed in the museum is already in the possession of the U.S. Army Center of Military History, and one recent donation was from the widow of First Sergeant John A. Carl of Fredericktown, PA. Besides uniforms, a bolo (fighting knife) from the Philippines, medals and decorations, there was also Japanese occupation currency and a captured Japanese flag. I bet there is a complete MPC set sitting out there somewhere looking for an exhibit case. I am very sure there are many other stored donations sitting in Army and other military museums across the country with other military currencies in them. Besides we military currency collectors wanting to research these pieces, the museums' curators will need "Military Payment Certificates," World War II Remembered," and many other references to properly identify, catalog and display military financial instruments, medals, decorations, and many other related pieces. I will start writing reviews of the two books mentioned above and many other related references for "On Point,” the foundation's newsletter, Book Reviews section. I think the reviews could be useful to the Quartermaster Museum, the Old Guard Museum, and many other museums, but I also think that the foundation's members might also buy these references to identify their war souvenirs and related material. Maybe some of them will also join us in receiving the MPCGram and "joining" the M2C2. We shall see. "On Point" also describes one or two Army museums in each issue. I will start adding these museums to my travel schedule so I can ask their curators if they have anything of interest to me and you readers. I think you might also want to know about any Army and other military museums located near you. I bet there are pieces in them that will be important to our research and knowledge, no matter their primary area(s) of interest! I am member 1877 of the foundation and the membership just went over 2000 before the end of the year 2000. This was a goal and everyone is very happy, and surprised, to see we made it. I am not sure any of you Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard people would be interested in joining the foundation, but I am hoping some of you Army guys will be interested. We are close to having a national Army museum, but we need more members pushing for it to accomplish our goal. Please visit the website at www.armyhistoryfnd.org and see what the foundation is all about and apply for membership. ==================================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- Technology continues to get in the way as it also leads us into the future. At least one reader received a truncated gram 242. We checked the record copy that we send to our selves and found it to be complete. We have sent another copy to Mr. Halfgram, and will be happy to send another to you if you were shorted. =================================================== Mail Call --------------------------------------------------- Dear Gram, Regarding the question about listing printings and replacements (if not too late with this response): other than the error in the ending SN for the overall listing (first line, last SN should be 6,800,000, not 6,000,000), I like the second proposal better (though I understood the apparently erratic SNs perfectly well, they are easier to follow using your revised layout). Joe Dear Gramsters, Perhaps one of you can help me. I am interested in knowing what the "exchange rate" was for the Barter Notes used in Germany. Obviously, the notes had to have some value, otherwise it would have been impossible to assign a barter value to the items which were brought into the store. (WWII Remembered doesn't address this question regarding "exchange rates"). So, was 1 barter unit equal to 1 dollar or 1 cent or 1 mark, or were 100 barter units equal to 1 dollar, or what? I know this is not MPC related but it is military related. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Ken B. Dear Ken, Thanks for the great question. I am quite sure that there was no official or even quasi official exchange rate. The purpose of the store and hence the units was to buy and sell things in the store. Germans and Americans traded in their commodities and the units. Having said that, Branigan (the store manager who provided most of the information on the store and the units) reported that the units did circulate somewhat in the local economies. I also remember several times finding other evidence of this, but cannot recall what the evidence was. However, it would be possible to calculate an exchange rate because there was a wonderful common currency. That currency was cigarettes! If you can find how many cigarettes per mark and unit, you will have the exchange rate. I will watch for these data and hope that you will too. Possibly Ski has something on this and will share it in a future gram. While we are discussing barter units, I would like to comment that I would like to receive reports of Berlin barter units in collections. Fred =================================================== 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 1/21/01. These folks have generously provided money or material to finance scholarships to the ANA WWII Numismatics seminar. Your contributions will help promote collecting WWII material and be greatly appreciated. Mr. Anonymous Donor Mike Cummings Ed B. Doug Bell R. A. Medina Harold MPCKid Kroll Leo "Paymaster" May Bill McNease 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. Confirmed participants in MPC Fest II Doug Bell Bill McNease Al Glaser Phil Goldstein Harold Kroll Ian Marshall Larry Smulczenski Leo May Kevin Maloy Marv Mericle Bruce Potter David Seelye Nick Shrier Fred Schwan Dan Swartz Warner Talso (and Jane) Marcus Turner (We are well past last year's participation level. Can we double it, triple it, more?) If you have made a reservation and your name does not appear above, please contact the gram immediately (MPCgram@yahoo.com). Tentative schedule as of 15 January 2001 Friday March 8 1500-1900 Arrivals at Comfort Inn 1900-2030 no host dinner at Cisco and Charlies 2030-2300 bull session at Comfort Inn 2400 lights out Saturday breakfast at Comfort Inn 0730-0845 breakfast at Service Club 0900-1000 equipment issue (supply sergeant) 1000-1100 pay operations (pay master) 1100-1230 show and tell, session I 1230-1330 pizza party at Service Club (mess sergeant) 1330-1800 swap session (dealer surcharge, TBD) 1800-1930 spaghetti dinner at Service Club (mess sergeant) 1930-2030 secret operations 2000-2345 commemorative poker game at Comfort Inn 2200 MPC chat (simultaneous with poker game) 2400 lights out Sunday 0830-0900 breakfast at Service Club 0900-1000 research updates 1000-1230 show and tell 1230-1330 lunch at Service Club 1300-1500 field trip to WWII POW camp 1530 closing ceremonies Monday (optional, weather permitting) 0600-0630 breakfast at Service Club 0700-1400 Walleye fishing trip Remarks: registration is $139 per person (for reservations after February 15 $164, after March 1, $189). This includes two nights lodging (double occupancy, room assignments by first sergeant the only possible exception is married couples), Meals as indicated (Friday evening not included), equipment and amenities. The value of souvenirs and goodies distributed will likely exceed the cost of the entire Fest. Reservations accepted now at MPCGram@yahoo.com, deposits ($50 minimum) accepted at MPC Fest, 132 East Second Street, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452. Confirmed reservations will be listed daily in the gram—make your reservations now! Additional information; the Comfort Inn is located at 1723 East Perry Street, Port Clinton, Oh 43452, you may use one of the online map services to get exact driving directions. DO NOT make your own reservations or inquiries. The best airports in order of distance are Toledo (45 mins), Cleveland (90 mins), Detroit (100 mins). We will try to coordinate ground transportation, but there are no guarantees here. Questions: send your questions to MPCgram@yahoo.com. In most cases the questions will be answered in the letters section of the gram. After all, if you have the question, someone else probably does too. ==================================================== 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 692 $1 replacement, unc $900. Ian Marshall, please e-mail for confirmation. iam@total.net. MPC series 481/3 $10 VF $75.00 confirm at coinman@rochester.rr.com. MPC Series 681 $1 gem CU $18. Confirm fred@papermoneyworld.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 for sale in the above section. This is a trial, if you like it, send your list. MPC Series 661 $10 fine or better all WWII items pertaining to Camp Perry, Ohio WWII English war bonds (and savings stamps, was savings certificates and the like) =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com 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. __________________________________________________ Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/