Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5204.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.85]) by strange.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tgsjka.cd.37kbi0u for ; Fri, 25 May 2001 08:22:34 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010525122143.6953.qmail@web5204.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [205.188.200.38] by web5204.mail.yahoo.com; Fri, 25 May 2001 05:21:43 PDT Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 05:21:43 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 348 To: butternut@butternut.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ============================================== MPC Gram ============================================== Covering the Entire World of Military Numismatics ----------------------------------------------- Series 002-Number 348 Friday, May 25, 2001 An Unusual Notebook Standard Systems Group Public Affairs By Ingrid C. Ahlgren MAXWELL AFB, GUNTER ANNEX, Ala. (AFNS) -- He kept notes of his journeys around the world on unique memo paper: the currency of the world. This banknote notebook was known as a "short snorter." During World War II, a short snorter was a little less than a full drink at a bar. But an aircrew member's short snorter was a chain of paper currency, taped together, end-to-end, from various countries they had visited. The longer your short snorter, the more countries you had visited. Long short-snorters also meant free drinks at the bar, since the person with the shortest one had to buy the round, says retired Lt. Col. Edward J. Komyati, an aviation historian and former WW II pilot. "You knew you always had your taxi fare home," Komyati explains. "You could also use the short snorter to collect phone numbers, keep track of crews, or get signatures of famous people." According to Komyati, he ran across former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the Pacific in early 1943. He happened to have his short snorter with him and got her to autograph it. Komyati's short snorter is also signed by "walk outs": men whose planes went down in the Himalayas, but who managed to walk out alive. Today, Komyati's short snorter is more than 6 feet long and held together with yellowing, crumbling Scotch tape. It begins with a dark green U.S. "Silver Certificate" dollar and moves on to blue Congo francs, deep red Chinese yuan, light green Ceylon rupees, and yellow, brown and purple currencies ranging from 500 Palestine mils to 10 Tripotania (modern day Libya) lire. Komyati's short snorter includes script [sic] issued to soldiers in Italy after World War II, and images of everything from a palm tree to the countenances of Chinese leaders and a pharoah. A few of the languages on his short snorter are Arabic, Portuguese, Burmese, French, Chinese and English. Though the autographs are now faded on the paper, the memories of the people Komyati knew and admired are still alive in his mind. =============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- The last time that we ran a story on short snorters, lots of information followed from other Gramsters. I do not know if you are sitting on more secrets to share on the subject, but this is the time to come forward. This article was forwarded by David Sundman (thanks Dave). It appears to be in the public domain, but it is hard to be certain. We will be happy to send free copies of the gram to the author or interested parties if they can be located. =========================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Editor, 1. I will be in Memphis....hope to see you there. Should the Gram make a list of attendees? Should we have a casual meeting? Will you have a table? Will there be an MPC in Smythe's auction? 2. At FUN this last year you had some loose leaf pages in a notebook with MPC pictures. I liked the format you used to set up the information about the piece. Are you willing to share a sample page so I might mimic (the highest form of flattery) the format. 3. On E-Bay right now (Item #1239900262) is a five mark MPC-like piece with a 1948 date that I have never seen before. I looked in WWII Remembered and couldn't find anything there. What am I looking at? Any advice is gratefully received. George Dear George, Thanks for the inquiry. I hope that I can answer all of the questions. Looking forward to seeing you at FUN, oops, Memphis. Oops, looking forward to seeing you at Memphis AND FUN. Yes, I have a table at Memphis and expect that lots of MPC guys will be hanging around it. There is a meeting of M2C2 at Memphis. That is the official meeting of military collectors there, but it will be one big meeting. I will be happy to give you a sample page of the system that you saw at FUN. Al also copied it but actually took it a step farther. Possibly Al will write a letter to the Gram about the system. The eBay item that you mention IS listed in Remembered, but that darn book is just so hard to use. The note is from the 1948 issue called Special Army Currency. There is quite a bit of info on the series in the book, but I do not remember if that particular denomination is illustrated. Did I hit every point? Oh, yes, you should apply for a scholarship to the Seminar! Editor Dear Editor, I am laying out the Sept/Oct issue of Paper Money It is the 1st annual international issue of paper Money I've got great articles, but I need foreign-oriented advertising to float it like the 40th anniversary issue. It's $300 a page. Fred Reed ================================================ 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 3/22/01. 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. Many donations were received at CPMX and MPCFest. Mr. Anonymous Donor, Mike Cummings, Sue and Keith Bauman, Ed B., Doug Bell, Tom Denly, Continental Coin Invensor, Inc., Denly's, R. A. Medina, Harold “MPCKid” Kroll, Leo "Paymaster" May, Mrs. R.C. Matherne, Bill McNease, Marv Mericle, Mel and Jeremy Steinberg, Marcus Turner, Larry Ski, Guido, Fred, PK6, Joel Shafer, World Wide Ventures, Pam West, John and Nancy Wilson, Neil Shafer, W. E. Yanchick, Mark Watson, Al Glaser, Phil Goldstein, Rod Hardy, Wesley Hardy, Gary Hicks, Jack Lippincott, Ian Marshall, Kevin Maloy, David Seelye, Nick Schrier, Elmer Smith, Dan Swartz, Tom Warburton, Dick Freyser, Tim Kyzivat ==================================================== 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 Your items for sale will be listed in the Gram for FREE. Send your listings now. You items for sale support the gram by making it more interesting for everyone! World War II Soviet War Bonds (lottery bonds as listed in WWII Remembered and quite wonderful) with great military vignettes. 1944 25 rubles (au) $16, 100 rubles (ef? Grading standards for bonds are not well established) $30, 1945 25 rubles (vf) $15, 50 rubles (ef) $20, 100 rubles (ef) $30. Send your order in, but I reserve the group until 10pm eastern for anyone who would like the whole collection for $100. 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 or sale in the above section. This is a trial, if you like it, send your list. =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Tuesday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski columnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski – ski@papermoneyworld.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. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/