Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5201.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.95]) by walker.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id thpt8q.69jf.37kbi73 for ; Tue, 5 Jun 2001 11:04:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010605150454.24151.qmail@web5201.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [205.188.192.166] by web5201.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 05 Jun 2001 08:04:54 PDT Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 08:04:54 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 356 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 356 Tuesday, June 5, 2001 Followups to previous columns. By Joe Boling Followup on holders and pages: >From a reader: I read your article on storing notes and had a few questions. I store my notes in 3-ring binders and have been putting the notes in Mylar holders and then in the pages that you can get at any coin shop (I think they are made of PVC). I bought some pages that are supposed to be safe which are called Ultra Pro and have a hologram on them (no acid, no PVC, etc.) and would like to put my notes directly into these pages. Is that safe or should I still use the Mylar holders as the pages are soft and unc notes could get creases, etc.? One problem with that is the notes in the Mylar holders slide around and fall out of the pages sometimes. Also, I like to put black divider pages between the pages holding the notes. Do you know where I can find black, blank, acid-free paper for this. Denley's of Boston always recommends the Lindner albums but they are expensive and he still recommends using the Mylar holders with them. There has to be a better way? A response: I'm not familiar with the Ultra Pro pages, but they sound like polypropylene. If they are (or if they are polyethylene), it should be safe to put the notes in without the Mylar sleeves. Mylar in PVC is only slightly better than PVC plain, because the PVC generates hydrochloric acid fumes as it deteriorates, and those get into the Mylar sleeves easily. Don't use PVC anywhere near your good stuff if it is at all avoidable. I have some proof medals in cardboard/Mylar 2x2s that have been in PVC 20-pocket pages for about 25 years. The proof medals are now completely frosted (clouded) by the PVC fumes penetrating the holders. Acid free black paper does not exist, as far as I know. You can try Light Impressions, but I have not seen it in their catalog. However, if the paper is between the pages, the danger of the paper affecting the notes in the pages is minimal; I would not worry about it. Just don't put the paper in the pockets with the notes. Using the Mylar holders to stiffen the polypropylene pages is a good idea, but I'd only go to that expense for the UNC pieces. Beate Rauch tells me that Dupont is discontinuing the manufacture of Mylar, so if you are running low of holders, you had better get them now before the stocks are gone. I don't know what they will replace it with. Followup on the Great East Asia War medalFrom a reader: How about mentioning the restrikes and just which way do they read? I have one of the restrikes. A response: The souvenir versions of the medal are mentioned on page 534 of SB. These are intended for veterans who want to have a tangible souvenir of their service; they are sold in street stalls in Tokyo (and presumably in other cities) around the major market areas. I have one in my collection, described in SB as follows: "as above, but cherry blossoms on obv replaced by alternating stars and anchors (representing the army and the navy), rx map of east Asia and inscriptions, center of ribbon pink." The "above" description, for the original medal, reads as follows: "medal, tin alloy, chrysanthemum and crossed swords (which look more like batons) on sun's rays, cherry blossoms around rim; rx, inscription Daitoa Senso (GEAW); hanger design, bamboo; ribbon symmetrical dark/light blue, dark/light green." On the original medal the GEAW inscription on the reverse is five vertical characters on a shield. Nothing else appears on the reverse. On the replica, the reverse has the map cited, along with the five characters for GEAW, and the dates Showa 16.12.8--Showa 20.8.15. These are the dates of the war, 8 December (on Japan's side of the date line) 1941 to 15 August 1945. The bar does not say "war medal," as the original does. It translates roughly as "commemorative medal," reading right to left, with a small star above a small anchor at each end of the bar, replacing the grass (?) designs of the original piece. The ribbon has narrow stripes of dark blue, light blue, and green, then a wide pink center and three narrow stripes in the same colors as the other side, but in the opposite order. On the original, the ribbon is identical except for having a wide yellow-green center between the two sets of narrow stripes. I have no idea why the center was made pink on the souvenir piece. There is at least one more replica/souvenir version of the GEAW campaign medal, but I have no description of it. Response to the Gram letter writer who inquired about he AM yen paper varieties listed in the list of Boling items for sale— The AMC yen paper varieties were not listed in SB because there are intermediate papers that would be too hard to classify. The pieces I described with a color in my sale list were clearly in one direction or the other (best if compared side by side, of course). I listed three pieces as "medium" paper, meaning neither stark white not deep cream (the true white has a nearly translucent quality when held to the light). =============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- Can Memphis REALLY be only a week away? It does not seem possible, but that is a common reaction that I have about time these days. Memphis will dominate Gram news for the next few weeks I am sure just as the Fest, Maastreicht, and other shows have. All of you who are not planning on attending Memphis, this is the time to change those plans! It will be a hoot and we hope to see you there. =========================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Greetings, Back to the list of countries using MPC in Vietnam. Well PRChina, cat.# M41-M46 were used there and from what I understand there was another issue during 1980 used by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army in the PRChina/Vietnam conflict. Refer to the IBNS current auction, lots #1153-1155. Also note lots #1156 and 1157. Looking forward to Howard's investigation as to whether Russian hard currency scrip was also used there. They must have had a vodka/caviar/chocolate shop in Hanoi somewhere. I'll send an inquiry into Siberia on this subject. Cheers, Colin Hello Colin, Well the matter of MPC-like items is different from where was MPC used, but it is a good subject anyway. Editor Dear Gram, Over the past 10 months I have been monitoring the activity on eBay in the Military currency section. I look at each lot closed lot and look at the bid history to see who bid on the lot. In the 10 months there have been 1057 different bidder identities. Up until 26 February 2001 it was possible to obtain the email address of the bidders on eBay. Since that day they have stopped that service. In the past, if a bidder was active over two months, I would get the email address and send them a notice about the MPC GRAM and my MPC website www.thempcman.net. Recently I have been sending the notification if they have bid at all, due to the far fewer available addresses to send the notices. Now that the change appears to be permanent, I will stop the record keeping of all bidders on eBay's MPC section. I will tabulate only the bidders whose email address is their bidder handle. And they will get the MPC GRAM notice. The status of the survey on MPC FEST II series 011 is as follows; $0.25 notes 47 reported $0.75 notes 49 reported $1.00 notes 80 reported $2.00 notes 49 reported $5.00 notes 49 reported $10.00 notes 50 reported $20.00 notes 44 reported The totals includes replacements, not speciemns and VOID $10.00's. It does include 2 known counterfeits. Who has the $5.00 counterfeit that was found at the FEST? Keep those reports comming in!! David David ================================================ 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. David Amey, 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! 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. 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