Fest 2025 Soon!

Preparations for MPCFest 2025 are underway. Printing presses are reported to be humming and staff briefings are being prepared.

Kim reports that the hotel staff is preparing for early arrivals and that rooms are filling fast. If you are planning on attending the Fest, call Kim at 419 732 7322.

Training, Training, Training

The main mission of the Fest is training. Festers present staff briefings throughout the day on Saturday. Over the decades, many outstanding programs have been presented by Festers. Many discoveries, large and small, have been presented to the public for the first time in Fest briefings. All Festers are invited to present a program. If you are an experienced briefer or a shy first timer, you are invited to present at MPCFest. The only requirement is that the subject of the presentation relates to military numismatics.

Ray and Steve Feller are the Fest training officers. If you plan on making a presentation, you should contact Ray (ray.feller@gmail.com) to guarantee a spot on the program.

Buy or Sell at the Fest

As part of the original plan, MPCFest was not called a coin show. Collectors have expectations of coin shows. The Fest was something different from the beginning. In spite of this, the Fest does offer opportunities for buying and selling. There is a preFest bourse. It looks like a typical coin show, except that all of the bourse dealers have material relating to military numismatics.

The Smulczenski Scholarship Auction is a charity event which raises money for the scholarship fund which in turn awards scholarships to the military numismatics seminar held every other year by the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs. The auction accepts donations to be sold as described and also accepts items to be sold with a commission paid by the seller.

Contact Dave Frank.

Editorial

As you know, it has been a long time without a Gram. I am very sorry about that. It has been difficult here at Gram headquarters for the past two months. The boss needed a back operation. It went well enough but required a week in the hospital and then five weeks of in-patient therapy. She--and we--survived the ordeal and she continues to recover and expects to be at the Fest--without her walker. I want to thank you in advance for your well wishes. During all of this, I tried to work on a Gram. I took a laptop to the rehab facility but was never able to put together the time to publish even one Gram.

I took a laptop to the facility. In addition to the difficulties above, the computer fought me at every turn. This was at least in part a continuation of computer problems that we had been having. The Gram before this one was only opened by a few readers. I do not know what that was all about.

We have been home for a week. I have worked on the Gram off and on for the past week, but I decided that today was the day to get a Gram out.

I have four laptop computers and tried all of them today. They use several different operating systems. I learned today that some of the four systems are not current for use with Mail Chimp. You will love this. On the Mac Book that I am using at this moment, the letter "c" is stuck requiring special attention each time that the letter is required. I think that it is funny that I cannot type Mac Book without special intervention.

We have a few Gram submissions for Bill Myers, Doug Bell and perhaps a few others, but I do not know if I can access these texts because of the aforementioned operating system problems.

Finally, I am sorry about the whining above. I tell you this not in pursuit of pity, but in pursuit of a laugh or two.

Mail Call

The MPCGram welcomes letters from readers. Letters should be relevant to military numismatics. Letters may be edited. Senders must be known to the Gram and names (actual or "fictional") will be used.

Dear Gram,

I have not received a Gram in a long time. What gives?

— Several Gramsters

Training Schedule

  • ANA National Money Show, Feb 27 -- 1 March 2025
  • GNA Show, 11--13 April
  • MPC Fest 2025, 4--6 April (call Kim at 419 732 7322)
  • Michigan State NS, April 10--12
  • ANA World's Fair of Money, 19--23 Aug, Oklahoma City

Please help us fill in the dates for the events listed and give us any additional events that might conflict. Thank you very much.

Resources

MPC Boot Camp by Fred Schwan https://youtu.be/ReL-dBk2cPk

MPCFest Sponsors

Joe and Louise Boling, Steve and Ray Feller, Dave Frank, Al Glaser, Dave Hunsicker, Brett Irick, Harold Kroll, Mike Marcil, Bill Myers and Warner Talso.

MPCFest is possible because of the generous support of its sponsors.

Gram Exchange

Do you have something for sale (or trade)? Are you looking for something for your collection? You can offer items here in the Gram or list specific items that you need.

FOR SALE

Send your text and images (!) to the editor for inclusion in the Gram Exchange. Please send the images in jpeg format with each image in a separate file.

List your items for sale here for FREE.

WANTED

Wanted to Buy [WTB] / In Search of [ISO] $10 Series 1934A North Africa silver certificate with the altered blue seal discussed in October 2022 MPCGram by Larry Smulczenski (Saturski #13) and covered in May/June 2008 SPMC article written by Peter Huntoon and Jim Downey. Please contact Andy Conroy (andyqconroy@gmail.com).