Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5202.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.170]) by osgood.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tjmgkq.ikp.37kbi1v for ; Thu, 28 Jun 2001 10:43:38 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010628144337.16441.qmail@web5202.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [152.163.206.201] by web5202.mail.yahoo.com; Thu, 28 Jun 2001 07:43:37 PDT Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 07:43:37 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 378 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 378 Thurski, June 28, 2001 Memphis Finds By Larry “Ski” Smulczenski You have seen several columns on the excitement, fun and friendship that we experienced at Memphis. These will long be remembered and talked about whenever collectors get together or talk with one another. But there is another area that also will be remembered when you review your collection or show it to some other collector. That's those wonderful treasures that came home with you from the show. Most of us go to a show with some idea of what notes we want to look for and if possible those that we want to purchase. Many times, we never see the items that we are looking for because they are great rarities and not available or maybe we see the note we want but our pockets are not deep enough to afford it and we have to pass. Both situations have happened to me on many occasions through the years. Then there are the times when your scanning a dealers stock and an item just jumps up at you and says "Take me home" or a dealer stops you and says " I brought this to show you". I find that in most cases these are the prized items that do come home with me and so it was at Memphis. I got to Memphis a little after noon on Thursday knowing full well that we weren't going to be able to get on the bourse floor until about four o'clock, but I knew that there would be many folks in the hotel to talk to and I wanted to get unpacked. I immediately ran into Marv Mericle and roommate Brian Giese and the three of us went to McCluskey's for lunch. Afterwards, Brian went back to the room and an afternoon swim while Marv and I walked to the ballpark where I had some tickets waiting for me for that evenings Memphis Redbirds baseball game. As we walked back to the hotel still talking, who did we run into hiding behind a light pole, but dear friend Pam West from England. No sooner had we exchanged our "Hello's" when she says "I got something to show you. Come by my table." When the bourse opened for dealer set-up, I helped Leo May set up his table and then went looking for Pam. She pulls out a well circulated 50 new pence, Sixth series, British Armed Forces Special Voucher printed by De La Rue. As most of you know this is quite a common note, and was part of the huge hoard sold by the British Ministry of Defence in 1991. BUT this was not an everyday common 50 new pence note, because about two-thirds of the way down the note there was a printing fold that left a quarter inch gutter across the entire note. Actually there were several folds that really caused two gutters, one stretching from the left margin three-quarters way across the note while a second gutter fold started at the right margin and came back to the center of the note. Both gutters narrowed as they approached one another. You see lots of these notes, but you very seldom see one with a dramatic error like this one. The show was off to a good start. Pam also had a small group of tokens that I had a quick look at. Three of them jumped right up at me and caught my eye. Two were NAAFI tokens and the third, I didn't have the slightest idea what it was, but it looked interesting. The first NAAFI token was the 1/2 franc that is struck incuse (impressed). I've had a couple of these previously but they were all well circulated. This one was a beauty, and if we were grading it like the coin folks do, I would think it would grade MS-64 or better. Only 212,570 of these were struck, so it is not a common item. For you that don't know the story behind these tokens, when the Allies invaded France in June of 1944, the troops were issued Supplemental French Francs (AMC). The lowest value was the 2 franc and the British mobile canteens had items with a value of less than 2 francs, like a cup of tea or a biscuit. So the need for change became apparent and thus the token was born. De La Rue Plastics Ltd was approached be the War Department with an order for 5 million tokens. The tokens were to be octagonal, in black with white writing. There was supposed to be a central hole but this was dropped because that added time to manufacturing process. De La Rue was unable to get the desired black plastic so the design was change to CP3 which is a brown laminate plastic called by the trade name "Formica". The lettering was then changed to impressed letters which were expensive to manufacture so only part of the order was so struck and other designs were proposed for the remaining order. Thats the reason for the small number of this variety. These are listed in World War II Remembered on page 173. The second NAAFI token, I had seen once or twice before, but had never owned one. It appears to be brass, with a center hole and is approximately one inch in diameter. One side had the inscription BRITISH ARMED FORCES around the hole with a floral design at the bottom of a thistle, shamrock, rose and leek. The other side has the denomination ONE UNIT and the same floral design. These tokens were minted for the same reason as those discussed in the previous paragraph. They were minted in 1952 for use with the third series BAFSV of which the smallest value was the 3 pence. Again change was needed for items that were priced less in the canteens. They were denominated in units so that they could be used anywhere in the world that British Forces might go. Indications are that they were used in Egypt in 1956 in conjunction with the Suez Crisis. In 1987, the remaining stock was sold to the mint for scrap value. Only 3,948 of the Unit tokens were unaccounted for. If you consider how many were lost in circulation or were brought home as souvenirs and lay in a drawer somewhere, it's not hard to realize how tough these are to find. You can find this one illustrated on page 177 of World War II Remembered. The third item is still unknown to me but I had to have it anyway. It too appears to be brass, and is just a hair larger than a U.S. one cent coin but is only about half as thick. It too has a hole in the center. The letters AF are on one side of the hole and CS on the other. Around the rim is the phrase "Each for all--all for each" and at the bottom, the word "KIRKEE". There is a picture of a set of scales above the hole and three shamrocks at the bottom, one on each side and one above the word "KIRKEE". The other side only has the words AMMUNITION FACTORY CANTEEN and another shamrock at the bottom. The AMMUNITION FACTORY CANTEEN was what interested me and has to be what the letter AFCS stand for. The location, India was written on the holder. The holder also attributes it as Yarwood P105. I don't have a copy of Yarwoods token book so I could not confirm this. Someone out there that has this book might want to enlighten us. Well, I never got around to the note I graded as AP last week, so I'll leave that for next time. =============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- Ski did not tell you the best (worst) part of the above transaction on the (wonderful) BAFSV error. I had to stand right next to him while he negotiated and purchased the note. I could not imagine why he would pass on the deal but I was hoping that he would so that I could snap it up! =========================================== Mail Call ----------------------------------------------- Hi Fred, Around here we refer to such items as "Color trials". Cheers, Colin To the Editor; I did have both books but ended up sending them to my brother as he was interested in them. So I will reorder both books and this time keep them for my own use. Thank you for the information. PAT & TED Dear Pat’n’Ted, Thanks for the order, but thanks even more for getting your brother interested! We are all recruiters! Editor Dear Editor, In light of the recent article on the theft of material, I had a thought, that should be appealing to those attending MPCFest3: I propose this year, we request the hotel, to assign all attendees to a block of rooms on the second floor in a localize area, and we all chip in an hire a private security guard from a reputable service in the Port Clinton / Sandusky area (Fred are there any?) I know the recent theft occurred off hotel property, but is this idea not worth the piece of mind it will provide? As MPC grows in popularity, as well as the publicity, you can be sure sooner or later, some of life dregs and skells will be seeking us out. Should we be prepared in advance, or wait until an incident occurs? I know if enough of us say yes, and the cost divided amongst us equally, it would not be as such a financial burden as you might think... Just an idea worthy of contemplation. Phil ================================================ 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, Sueand Keith Bauman, Ed B., Doug Bell, Tom Denly, Continental Coin Invensor, Inc., Denly's, Howard Daniel, 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 WideVentures, 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! For Sale: series 661 50 cents 5 notes in serial number order CH. UNC $90.00 postpaid insured. Series 681 50 cents 5 notes in serial number order CH.UNC $97.50 postpaid insured. coinman@rochester.rr.com World War II Remembered, $69 postpaid, Comprehensive Catalog of Military Payment Certificates $39 postpaid. Paypal and paper payments accepted. Contact BNRPress@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. 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