From: "MPCgram" To: Subject: MPCGram 993 Date: Sunday, August 17, 2003 1:18 PM =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Covering the entire World of Military Numismatics Series 004 - Number 993 Sunday August 17, 2003 Gram Charity by Fred Schwan and Trung Nguyen A few weeks ago I received a list of MPC for sale by Trung Nguyen. I refused to run this list! This is the story. Along with the list Nguyen wrote that he was selling his collection to raise money for the Thuan An, Vietnam orphans. The entire proceeds were to go to that cause. I wrote to him that I thought that was a very bad idea. I believe that there is a better way and that Gramsters will want to help. I suggested that Nguyen agree to be a coordinator of our efforts and that we (he and I) propose the membership (so to speak) that we make these orphans our favorite charity. Nguyen was hesitant, but I encouraged him. He wrote the following letter. Thanks for your support and encouragement. Only those who had seen the plight of the poorest of the poor can relate to the issue. While not starving to death by any measures, the deaf orphans of Thuan An Viet Nam are living on the charity of some nuns. Whatever little aid available from all sources can only amount to a substandard living for the children and the nuns; and it is a Vietnamese standard, which is considerably lower than most of us here have ever experienced. During my last trip to the homeland I saw their supply of daily stable. Even rice, the most basic item on their diet, was of the lowest grade available. Their supplemental items such as fish and meat - if ever available to them - were the rejected from the local market. Treats of any type and however insignificant are rare. There are probably a lot more orphanages in Viet Nam, but I can only be connected to one. You can figure that. Supporting one orphanage is a tremendous joy, but it is already a financial burden. I was blessed with meeting the orphans of Thuan An in the summer of 2001. Their first Christmas celebration ever was arranged in the same year. In 2002 I bought a summer mountain vacation for 50 kids (Da Lat) and again the Christmas dinner. There was a lot of dipping into saving etc in addition to the selling of quite a few items. This year I am trying every way possible to keep at least the Christmas tradition alive. I am hoping that all the items [in the collection list NOT run in the Gram--Ed] will find a taker. Please add to the printing that I am willing to take any reasonable offer. The orphans much rather have a smaller dinner than no dinner at all. Right now I am focusing on the immediate needs of the orphans. Your recommendation is wonderful. The problem is that I do not have the knowledge or skill to start such a grand-scheme project. You may have noticed that I am in nuclear power business and that's all I have learned so far in life. Your idea is terrific, but it will take some time to materialize - and I do not have any idea how the community will receive the concept of charity on the gram. Any way, there is already a scholarship. Thanks for the thoughts. For the time being I just have to sell off things. I will talk to you some times. Best regards Trung Nguyen Here is an extract from the next letter from Nguyen: Here in the states I have a friend who farms a thousand acres. He can easily give me tons of beans. I only wish there was some miracle that allows me to transport the soybeans to them. Sister Marie Mai-Anh told me that in early 2002 some charity gave them a load of soybeans; within weeks the kids showed the results of the extra protein in their diet. What we take for granted here, freedom for one, basic food for another, seems to be life?s struggling elsewhere. Yes, Mr. Fred, I would love nothing more than some sort of long-term charity for the deaf orphans of Thuan An. I have been doing it all by myself, mostly by dumping all kinds of collection. All the sudden I came to realize that the orphans need and deserve nutrition and a bit of comfort more than I deserved my collection. My financial situation, like any one with a fixed income, allows very limited assistance to the children. To add to the burden I have friends and close family members back home who need financial assistance. They too make quite a ding in my pocket. If your idea can materialize, it will mean the world to the orphans. I sure do not know how to even start. I have never done any grand-scale project of that caliber, but what made me hesitate was the fact that our gram already ran a charity involving the scholarship. I sure do not place an undue burden on the gramsters. Once I wrote to Mr. 691 asking for help. I offered to buy a set of 691 at a reasonable price, the amount of dollar I already put aside to give to children this summer. You see, the kids were taken to a summer trip, nothing too costly or fancy, just a short trip to another orphanage couple hundreds of kilometers away. The children were going to be provided with room and board at the other orphanage, but I thought it would be nice if they were provided with a special meal in town.  Plus each one should be given some kind of spending money amount to about US $2.  I was thinking if Mr. 691 would sell me a set of 691 for the amount, I would sell it and send them the whole amount. Beside food, the money could also be used for the kitchen, which can use a bit of repair and refurbishment. I did not even receive a ?no.? It was quite embarrassing and thus I shied away from looking for help outside my own means. None of the children of the Thuan An Center are orphans of the Vietnam war, and, rightly so, folks in the US are not concerned. I am connected to them because I am a Vietnamese. I was only fortunate enough to not become an orphan. After all it was a war; millions parents died and their children simply became orphans. I did send all the money allocated for the 2002 summer trip - without any help from any one. The money did not pay for the trip, just a meal or two and spending money. My next project will be an ice maker. You sure can remember the heat there. The children does not have even a fan to cool themselves, they sure can use an ice maker. If they can have an ice maker or a freezer I am sure their quality of life will improve tremendously. Thanks again, and I will love to summon your help to do some thing for the kids on the long-term basis. Not every one I speak to share the same view, not even my siblings except one. Two friends at work, however, have always added to the fund whenever I decided or became able to send help. The kids there don?t know who we are. They only see me whenever I show up and the nuns had already informed them of my promise to provide a Christmas meal. Nguyen has agreed to the project and will act as the coordinator, but work will be required of everyone--if we decide to take on the project. I hope that Howard Daniel and/or possibly his wife will cochair this project (this is the first that the master sergeant has heard of the project). If we agree to make these orphans our favorite charity or at least a Gram charity, I have several fund raising ideas in mind (bet you are surprised about that!). Obviously we will just accept donations of money or material. Material donations will be treated just as we treat the scholarship donations now. They will be sold via the Gram, Fest auction, ebay, whatever. I will take on the task of creating souvenir/receipt notes to be given to donors. The idea came from the winterhilfswerk and bonde solidaritate issues from World War II. Initially, I imagine overprinting actual MPC from the Vietnam era with an appropriate message. These items will be given to donors. =========================================== Editorial/opinion =========================================== As you can tell, I strongly support the Gram charity proposal. I hope that you do to, but even if you do not, I would like to have your opinions for the Gram. A few more issues/details need to be addressed. I see 2.5 objections to the idea. First, that these donations might somehow detract from the scholarship fund raising. While this is a possibility, I think that it is worth the risk. Partially to offset this, while I create the orphan notes, I will also create souvenirs for scholarship donors. Secondly, some might have an objection to Nguyen choice of Christmas dinner. I have this feeling somewhat myself, but to me it is overridden by two other factors. Basically, if Nguyen is doing the work, we should let him manage it. Later, if we generate significant money over several years (which I think we can), then some committee might get involved in distribution decisions. The one half objection is that some accountability will be necessary. I think that this is also a little premature, but certainly we will want to keep this in mind as we work on this project (if we decide to). Neither Nguyen nor Howard Daniel have seen this so I hope that I have not stepped on their toes in any way. Please let us hear from you. =========================================== MAIL CALL =========================================== letters/submissions for Gram 1000 special double issue should be sent to MPCGram1000@yahoo.com Dear Esteeemed Editor, It is Sunday morning on the Middle Atlantic region of the Right Coast and my news is telling me that the 2003 Blackout was caused by something and/or someone in Ohio! Ohio? Do we have a Gramster Post Engineer who might start looking around Port Clinton for the source of the blackout? As for eBay, I regularly receive emails that appear to be from them. I forward ALL of them to cshelp@ebay.com so they will see what is going on. They have put people on them to trace them back to the sources and have been successful at nailing some of these guys (and gals?) who are trying to get private information out of us. The Master Sergeant Daniel Dear Gram, I do not know if this appropriate for the gram, but here goes. I get "official" looking emails all the time asking to update my account, asking for my email address and password, as well as my eBay user ID and password! Naturally I immediately trash them, but sometimes forward them to the real eBay. And yes, within the past few months my eBay account was taken over not once, but TWICE by fraudulent operators. The first time it happened I was having lunch at an Applebee's in Lakeland. My cell phone rang since I had call forwarded the office number to it. When I answered, the guy on the other end identified himself from eBay and wanted to know if I had listed any high-powered dollar items on eBay that morning. When I asked, like what, he said electronic items and I responded definitely not. He said, just as we thought, we'll cannel them immediately. Then he said that they (the scumbags) had changed my password, email address, etc. Changing your email address is most important as that is how they advise the "buyer" to send them money. What a mess, but I got it all cleared up in a day and talked on the phone a couple times with the guy who had called me. I thought all was OK. Shortly afterwards, say within a month it happened AGAIN! I was very upset. Actually I was on a trip overseas to Japan and Korea. When I was checking my lots one morning very very early in a PC Room (which is very popular and cheap here) I noticed that there were several high-dollar items from $3000.00 to $7000.00 running under my account. TV's, etc. I was furious and I thought, I'll show them. I used an old eBay user ID of mine and I bid or BOUGHT IT NOW all the fraudulent lots for very high prices. If it was listed for $5000.00, I bid $10,000. If it was BUY IT NOW for $7000, I bought it! Then for good measure I emailed them telling what scumbags they were. I felt good. Real good. I had defeated them, I thought. All was well until a couple months later for some reason I checked my eBay MY SITE which I seldom do. I clicked on the LEAVE FEEDBACK FOR MEMBERS and there were 7 lots I needed to leave feedback on. The seven fraudulent lots which I had bought with my old eBay user ID. Well, a few months had passed and I had forgot that I had bid on them myself, but still angry, I gave EVERY LOT a negative feedback saying "BEWARE, SCAM ARTIST" Well, what I had did unknowingly, was leave myself 7 NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS. To make matters worse, I did not realize it until very recently as I seldom if ever check my old account. But when I did, there were the 7 NEGATIVES......................someone emailed me and asked, what gives? All is well now, I emailed eBay and explained the whole situation and they removed all the negatives. Anyway, what gramsters should know is that they should change their password frequently. I used to use the same password for all my different accounts. That is real FOOLISH, especially for things like PayPal.....................................I just changed that password today. Also after this happened I changed all my passwords and put them into Japanese. Then I learned it does not matter what language they are in, if they can observe your keystrokes they could be in any language. Anyway, a word to the wise.......................do not answer emails from someone who says they are eBay. EBAY will NEVER ask you sensitive information in an email. Dear Gram, Dear Editor, In response to the question that you asked in Gram #991. Your suspicion is correct (again). Gram #991 is the first Gram, that has been mailed out of numerical sequence. You have however, sent... Two Gram #13's (cyber isolated Fred) Gram #14 & #14a Gram #16/#17 Combined Gram #21 & 21b Gram #23 & #23 & #23b (Extremely Important) Gram #50 & #50b Gram #61 & #61b Gram #65 & #65.5 Gram #92 & #92.5 Gram #131 & #131.1 Gram #249 & #249.5 Gram #304 & #304b Gram #515 & #515-2 Gram #520 & #520-2 Gram #525 & #525-2 There are a few more. Ed Dear Ed, Since yesterday was Gram 991, I nearly numbered this one 992. Only your letter stopped/saved me! Thanks. Editor =========================================== CALENDAR OF EVENTS =========================================== http://calendar.yahoo.com/mpcgram Lyn Knight Auction [including major, old-time military money collection] August 20-24 Sheraton Grand Hotel 4440 West John Carpenter Freeway, Irving, Texas 75063 (972) 929-8400. Mini Fest anticipated, take your pay books AND a show ?n tell item! August 23 MPC barbeque, in conjunction with above Knight show/auction. Confirmed reservations: Doug Bell, Harold Kroll, David Seelye, Fred Schwan, Sam Feeback, Warner Talso, Neil Shafer, Joel Shafer, Steve Swoish, Marcus Turner, Bruce Potter, Frank Clark, john Cheney. Cost approximately $12 each, bring your paybooks. Send reservations to Doug Bell doug@papermoneyworld.net. August 28, the Charlton E. Meyer, Jr. and Gloria B. Meyer Collection of Holocaust and Camp Money will be exhibited at Holocaust Museum Houston. You are strongly urged to see it if at all possible. (take paybooks to the opening) http://www.hmh.org PCDA National and World Paper Money Convention. November 19-23, 2003. St. Louis Hilton Airport Hotel, 10330 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63134. Lyn Knight auction, consignment deadline September 30, 2003 2004 CPMX February 26-28, Lyn Knight auction. Consignment deadline January 10, 2004. March 5-7, MPCFest V, reservations now being accepted. Reservations entered in order received: Roger Urce#$$, John Cheney#$, David Seelye, Harold Kroll, Gail Baker#, Leo May$$$, Kevin Neidy, Cuneyd Tolek, Warner Talso, Cameron Bueschel, Wendell Wolka, John V. Craig#, John Cheney#, Steve Swoish, Joe Bissell#, Sparky Watson, Nick Schrier, Loretta Freyser, Dick Freyser, Ron Waddell, Robert Drew, Ed Arrich#, Neil Shafer#, Fred Schwan. # new Fester, $ paid. $$ paid single occupancy. Running totals: total 24, new festers 8. Standard rate $148, single occupancy $198, payments may be made by mailing paper instruments of any kind to BNR Press (or MPCFest or even Fred Schwan) at 132 E. Second St., Port Clinton, OH 43452. Payments may also be sent via PayPal ( fredschawan@yahoo.com ). Once you have sent your payment, monitor the above list to ensure that it has been received and posted). Show n tell: Gail Baker ( education@money.org ) Travel coordination: Sparky Watson ( mcwatson@yahoo.com ) Auction items: Larry Smulczenski ( skifla@prodigy.net ) Exhibits: Joe Boling ( joeboling@aol.com ) Masstricht April 23-25, Valkenburg, The Netherlands, contact Jos Eijsermans, Box 3240, NL 5930 Tegelen Netherlands ======================================== 2004 scholarship fund Donations of cash and numismatic material will be gladly accepted. Generally the numismatic material is auctioned at MPCFest, but might be sold via ebay or other places. Your scholarship donations help the hobby by sending qualified individuals to the ANA summer seminar military money class. Except for unavoidable charges like ebay fees, 100% of your donation goes to scholarships. Al Glaser RA Medina Warner Talso David Seelye Russ Walsh Joe Boling Harold Kroll Pam West Ed Hoffman Ron Wadell Wes Hardy Dick Freyser Robert Drew Brett Irick Kevin Neidy Brian Giese 2003 Scholarship Donors Ed Hoffman ? RA Medina ? Dick Freyser ?Larry Smulczenski ? David Seelye ? Howard Daniel ? Steve Feller ? Warner Talso ? Pam West ? Mr. 691 ? Leo May ? John & Nancy Wilson ? Max Spiegel ? Gail Baker ? Chris Connell ? Bill Haines ? Joel Shafer ? Mikhail (Misha) Istomin ? Gary Hicks ? Robert Drew ? Tom Warburton ? Larry Lee ? Fred Schwan ? Mark Watson ? Harold Kroll ? Ian Marshall ? Marcus Turner ? Neil Shafer ? Keith & Sue Bauman Contact me at: "Marcus Turner" mailto: maturner@indy.rr.com Checks should be made out to the "Military Numismatists Scholarship." or Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, Indiana 46123 USA IMPORTANT SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION Additional information can be found at the link below. We encourage everyone to print copies of this information and distribute it to those who might be interested. Further you are encouraged to e-mail the pdf document to anyone you see fit. Thank you http://www.papermoneyworld.net/news/Military Numismatists Scholarship Fund 2003.pdf Marcus Turner Scholarships from the ANA: See the following location for an application for financial aid to the summer seminar: http://www.money.org/sumsemfin.html =========================================== MPC ANA Museum Project =========================================== ANA collection of MPC: Thanks to donations from Douglas Bell, Dick Fryser, Ed Beaman, Bruce Peacock, David Seelye, Michael Cummings, Ray Czahor, David Pitchford and Mr 691the ANA MPC collection is current as follows: Series 100 - [50 sen], [1Y, 5Y, 10Y, 20Y all A underprint] Series 461 - 5, [10] cents, [$1] Series 471 - [5, 10, 25, 50 cents, $10] Series 472 - [5, 10 cents], [$1, $10] Series 481 - 5 cents, [10, 25 cents], 50 cents, $1, [$5] $10 Series 521 - 5, 10, 25, 50 cents, [$10] Series 541 - 5, 10, 25 cents Series 591 - [5, 10, 25, 50 cents, $1] Series 611 - [5, 10, 25 cents, $1] Series 641 - 5, 10, 25, 50 cents, $1, $5, $10 Series 651 - [$1] Series 661 - [10, 25, 50c], [$5], [$1, $5] $10 Series 681 - 5, 10, 25, 50 cents, $1, [$5], [$20] Series 691 - [$1, $5, $10, $20] Series 692 - 5, 10, 25, 50 cents, $1 Series 701 - [$1, $5, $10, $20] [50c etc.] = notes donated by Gramsters --Chris Connell =========================================== RESEARCH =========================================== New modification to the database you can now retrieve your password if you have forgotten at the main logon screen. Keep in mind syntax is important. The mpc database has changed its name it now going to be referred as, WW II P a p e r M o n e y D a t a B a s e This is just a hint of things to come If you are having trouble logging on please inform Doug Bell At doug@papermoneyworld.net Papermoneyworld maintains an innovative interactive data base of all military payment certificates. Everyone is invited to enter notes in their possession or that they have observed. Visit the site at: http://www.papermoneyworld.net/user/default.asp this project is financially supported by David Seelye http://www.thempcman.net/ , mailto: coinman@rochester.rr.com =========================================== Subscription information: =========================================== You can enter an email address to receive the gram by using the link below. Use this to change your address (add the new one), add a friend or enemy. http://www.papermoneyworld.net/WebMailList/Default.asp ========================================= HOT CONTACT LIST - DEALER & RESOURCE LIST Below is the BNR Press Hot Contact List. This list serves several functions. Obviously it is an outreach by the dealers listed for your business. Most of them buy and sell MPC. Others organize shows or publish periodicals, or furnish information dedicated to this field. They have supported the new Comprehensive Catalog of Military Payment Certificates with their advertising. They deserve your support and patronage! Name phone fax / cell email Allens (614) 882-3937 (614) 882-0662 info@allens.com American Coins & Collectibles (800) 865-3562 American Numismatic Ass'n (800) 367-9723 ana@money.org Guy Araby (562) 945-7891(310) 508-0018 guyaraby@earthlink.net Bob Baker(713) 864-3122 Ken Barr (408) 272-3247 ken@kenbarr.com Fred Bart (810) 979-3400 Dick Balbaton (508) 699-2266 (508) 643-1154 RBalbaton@aol.com Keith and Suzanne Bauman (248) 647 8938 tnaksbauman@earthlink.net Joe Bissell (602) 440-0442 (602) 494-9103 BNR Press (419) 732-6683 (419) 732-6683 fredschwan@yahoo.com Remy Bourne (800) 789-7070 (763) 789-4747 Ed Carne (614) 882-3937 (614) 882-0662 info@allens.com Champion Stamp (212) 489-8130 (212) 581-8130 Cookie Jar Collectibles (301) 604-9225 cjcpi@comcast.net Guido Crapanzano [39] 2-8056228 [39] 2-4459856 Currency Dealer Newsletter (310) 515-7369 David F. Cieniewicz (205) 852-7015 CGC (602) 493-4758 (602) 494-9103 sales@gradedcurrency.com Mike Cummings (863) 603-9899 (863) 603-9880 mpccoin@hotmail.com Cygnet Charters (419) 734-2422 Ray Czahor (301) 604-9225 cjcpi@comcast.net Denlys of Boston (617) 482-8477 denlys@aol.com Doric Coins & Currency (508) 699-2266 (508) 643-1154 FUN (407) 321-8747 Great Lakes Bank Note Company (419) 732-6683 IBNS joeboling@aol.com Essie Kashani (909) 627-3996 (909) 627-2776 kashani10@aol.com Lowel Horwdel (765) 583-2748 (765) 583-4584 horwdel@inshightbb.com Lyn Knight (800) 243-5211 Krause Publications (715) 445-2214 (715) 445-4087 bnr@krause.com Harold Kroll(251) 649-5134 HARBONS@aol.com Leo May (305) 720-0659 LeoMayEnt@aol.com Ian Marshall (416) 445-0286 (416) 445-0286 iam@total.net Memphis Coin Club (901) 757-2515 MPCGram (419) 732-6683 MPCGram@yahoo.com Pomexport Ltd. 1-201-641-6641 / Fax: 1-201-641-1700 E-Mail: Info@pomexport.com // website: http://www.Pomexport.com Bob Reed(504) 361-5684 bobreed@rrcoins.net Fred Schwan (419) 732-6683 (419) 732-6683 FredSchwan@yahoo.com David Seelye (585) 594-1987 (585) 594-2311 coinman@rochester.rr.com Richie Self (318) 868-9077 R. M. Smythe (800) 622-1880 (212) 908-4047 www.smytheonline.com Mel Steinberg & Son (415) 897-1654 (voice and fax) melsteinberg@mindspring.com Military Trader (800) 334-7165 Scott Winslow Associates (603)472-7040 (603) 472-8773 scott@scottwinslow.com George Warner(307) 672-3700 Pam West [44] 0208 641 3224[44] 0208 641 3224 pamwestbritnotes@compuserve.com ======================================= POST / BASE EXCHANGE(PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale, purchase or trade 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. In all cases confirm your order via email first. WWII local emergency note from Belgium. See page 33 of WWII Remembered (also available, autographed if you like $69 postpaid), catalog numbers1060-1065 (with 1060 being the new number for the 10 centimes denomination not listed) Six piece set 10 centimes-5 francs, uncirculated. Yours for $99 (postaid). fredschwan@yahoo.com . WANTED SECTION: 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 as a reply. Wanted listings will run for a period of 1 month. WANTED 01; Anyone that has a series 691 $1 dollar note or a $20 note that the serial number ends in 05 I am willing to trade my gem unc same notes plus a bonus of cash to sweeten the trade or am willing to buy the notes out right? I am trying to finish my set with matching numbers Thanks Kevin Please call 248-830-6390 $4.00 Serial number 201; $5.00 Serial number 201; $10.00 Serial number 101; $20.00 serial number 101. Will buy, trade MPC, MFC, FRN notes. Put your for sale notice in the Gram. =========================================== MPC Gram Staff: Publisher, editor: Fred Schwan - MPCGram@yahoo.com Subscription Manager:Doug Bell- doug@papermoneyworld.net Tuesday Columnist : JoeBoling - JoeBoling@aol.com Friday Columnis: Warner Talso: wtalso@aol.com Fest Auctioneer: Larry "Ski" Smulczenski - skifla@prodigy.net Critic:Harold Kroll - HARBONS@aol.com Scholarship Coordinator: Marcus Turner - maturner@indy.rr.com Webmaster & Technical Advisors:Doug Bell "Wiz" - doug@papermoneyworld.net Russ Walsh - russ.walsh@gte.net Fact Checker: Warner Talso -Calendar Coordinator: John & Nancy Wilson - 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! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com