Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5202.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.170]) by walker.mail.mindspring.net (Mindspring Mail Service) with SMTP id t7vu8p.s0r.37kbi73 for ; Tue, 6 Feb 2001 08:16:09 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <20010206131608.2646.qmail@web5202.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [152.163.197.197] by web5202.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 06 Feb 2001 05:16:08 PST Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 05:16:08 -0800 (PST) From: MPCgram Subject: MPC Gram 246 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 246 Tuesday 6 February 2001 Roving reporter checks in by Mike Cummings I arrived in Seoul last night. Have not found any MPC coupons yet to purchase but I am looking. I did, however, visit one collector whom I have known for a long time. He has 22 of the 32 Korean coupons! Quite a collection I would say! I do have some good news to report. The new Korean Catalog just came out and they have for the first time listed the Korean Coupons and picture quite a few too. (I doubt that they have access to all issues for photographing.) All four series are listed, but no prices are given however. I mentioned to Mr. Park that they should list all the MPC that was used in Korea in the next edition. I explained to him that Korea was the only country other than Japan that used all series and even their ROK troops used the 4 different Vietnam-Only issues. That makes me wonder, is there 4 coupon series to match the 4 different MPC series? More later, (when I find something significant like a 481 $5 replacement!) [Mike, I will take THAT replacement when you find it--editor.] Romanian commentary by Mikhail Istomin from Kharkov, Urkaine I would like to comment about the following items in addition to the comments of a Romanian colleague Mircea Raicopul. OLD Ryabchenko catalogue lists #s 16894, 16895, 16897 (1 pfennig of yellow color, 3 pfennig of green color и 10 pfennig of blue color). Bread talons of such denominations were issued in Odessa by the Romanian authorities and were intended for buying bread in specific shops of Odessa (The number of the shop was pointed out on the talons). The texts were in Russian and Romanian. Here is what was written on them Odessa municipality Supply department TALON For obtaining bread by a (ration) card From the municipality's bread shop Valid only for the bread shop #........ UNFORTUNATELY, exact mechanism (how distributed, on what principles and how provided for with bread) of their functioning is not known. According to some sources the talons were intended for the most needy people? This can hardly be possible as all the people were needy in war conditions. These bread talons are also listed in the catalogue of Ryabchenko for Ukraine under 7927, 7928, 7930. You can see 10 pfennig note in the monumental work by Schwan and Boling on page 783. Exhibiting tips by Joe Boling Let's talk about exhibiting again. Several of you have recently mentioned that you want to exhibit, or have actually bitten the bullet and entered a display in a major show (such as Marv Mericle's exhibit at FUN). If you are going to travel to a far-off city to attend a convention, it's pretty easy to say "Well, I can't haul an exhibit aboard an airliner, so I won't bother." Rubbish. Back in 1975 I was visiting a fellow named Schwan and he was agonizing over how to construct an exhibit to take to the ANA convention in LA. He had come up with the concept of using non-rigid fabric backgrounds that could be rolled on a tube, and putting the title (typically a long component of the exhibit, especially in those days) on a ribbon that could also be rolled. In casting about for a way to make the title on the ribbon neat and uniform, he thought of transfer lettering. I don't know how many of you are familiar with that long-time staple of the draftsman's art. After Leroy sets, it was the most-used method of preparing text that was larger than a typewriter could produce (no laser printers with your choice of twenty font sizes in those days). We went searching for the components, and found that ribbon in various colors and widths was available in fabric stores, and that the transfer lettering was available in multi-font kits (in small towns) or in whole sheets of a single font and size in large college bookstores or some office supply stores. And wonder of wonders, the lettering actually would stick to the ribbon if you were careful how you handled it after finishing the transfer. Ever since then, I have used that method of building exhibits. The fabric backgrounds are cut to the approximate size of the cases and hemmed (if the fabric demands) or left unhemmed (if the fabric body does not immediately unravel all along the edges). To hide that unsightly edge (even if hemmed, it is not perfectly straight, and likely does not fully cover the bottom of the exhibit case), I use additional ribbons cut to the lengths of the sides of the cases. Those ribbons lie over the edge of the background and fill the space right to the wall of the case, creating a frame. Although I have been doing this for 25 years, it seemed like a novel approach to two persons who commented on it at the FUN show last month. I use one-inch wide nylon satin ribbon for the edging, and 1-1/2 inch satin ribbon for the titles (I don't know if that is nylon or rayon). (Both dimensions are nominal; the actual width is about 1/16 inch under the stated dimension.) You can cut the edging ribbon square and only rarely do you have to dress the cut to remove fraying threads. The title ribbon can be cut any way you like--I use an angled cut on each end that makes the ribbon a long parallelogram. Now that laser and high-definition ink jet printers are available, you can produce titles on any kind of paper or card stock, but if the length exceeds ten inches (or thirteen, if you have legal-length paper), you have to use two or more pieces and either attach them to each other with glue or tape, or align them carefully next to each other in the exhibit case. I think the ribbon looks snazzier, but it IS time-consuming to prepare, and is subject to wear and tear if the exhibit is used often (although some of my ribbons are over twenty years old and still look as good as new, due to careful storage and handling). Transfer lettering will flake off if the ribbon is folded through a letter, and some lettering does not adhere well right from the start (I can no longer remember what brands did not work well for me--the lettering I still have unused is a mix of Letraset, Chartpak, and Keuffel & Esser). I prepare my titles in all capital letters--48 point for the initial letters of words and 36 point for the other letters. This looks better than mixing upper case and lower case letters, in my opinion. For the rest of the information in the exhibit, I used light card stock when I was preparing my text on a daisywheel printer. Now that I use laser, the toner will not fuse reliably on anything thicker than a postcard (or on textured paper). I have switched to using smooth colored bond for the texts of all exhibits that I have built since taking the daisywheel printer out of service. Most of my exhibits use two colors of text cards. One color is used for the captions and text that directly explains the numismatic items; another color is used for the essay that provides meat of the background information (called "special numismatic information" on the rating sheet). This is so that a person interested only in the numismatic items and their explanations can read only the information on that color card; those interested in everything, can read both colors of card. I link the numismatic items to the non-caption text by putting numerals in the text (like footnotes, but larger and circled so that they can be found), and putting a number near the numismatic item that matches the one in the text. Thus, someone reading the text comes to the number and looks at the note, coin, or medal with the same number to relate the items to the text. Someone looking at a numismatic item who wants to know more about it than is shown on the caption card looks for the number of the item in the text and finds there the historical or economic information that relates to it. It is easy to find the number because it is as large as the text font and is circled in red, thus 8 (imagine a red circle around the "8"). An entire exhibit can be packed in one file folder, one small box for the edge and title ribbons, and one tube for the backgrounds (plus whatever is needed to hold the numismatic items while in transit). It is very compact, but can expand to fill seven (or more) cases. If you want to have stands for the coins or medals, or mirrors and other fancy features, all that adds to volume, but can be packed and carried more easily than seven case-sized rigid backgrounds on poster board or foam core. Now, if you ARE driving, and can carry large boards easily, there are good reasons for using them and prefabricating as much of the exhibit as possible (so that you don't have to spend hours laying out the cards and material with your cases open in the exhibit hall)--but that's a topic for another day. ==================================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- The news from Mike Cummings that the new Korean catalog includes Korean MPC coupons is wonderful. We have long felt that more country catalogs should include MPC. This is especially true for countries where MPC was used--Germany, France, etc. There is a less obvious connection for some other countries. Australia, New Zealand and probably others should list Viet Nam era MPC because their troops USED it! We congratulate Mike Cummings for promoting such listings and we encourage any of you who have influence to promote such listings. We will certainly assist any would-be author/publisher with illustrations, data, and most of all encouragement! =================================================== Mail Call --------------------------------------------------- Dear Editor, I am still having trouble with the format of the gram. I must scroll it left and right to read it. That is a real bother. Please fix that today. Coneyd =================================================== 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 2/2/01. 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 Mrs. R.C. Matherne 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 Sam Feeback Al Glaser Phil Goldstein Harold Kroll Ian Marshall Larry Smulczenski Bill McNease 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). PayPal and PayDirect are available, the associated email address is fred@papermoneyworld.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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/