bigjarofwasps

RARE and HISTORIC Vintage 1945 ORIGINAL News Service Photograph depicting the scene on September 3, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrendered signaling the end of World War II. Original press stamp and caption with date are on the verso of this 8? x 10? photograph. Shown on board to sign the surrender document are Foreign Minister Shigemitsu, General Yoshijiro Umezu, Katsuo Okazaki and Col. Kaziyi Sugita. One of the few originals extant, issued at the time the event happened !

In the history of the United States, there have been many notable written and photographic war documents. For the American colonies, the great Charter Document, the Declaration of Independence, began a long and painful struggle that ended on a battlefield at Yorktown, Virginia with the Articles of Capitulation between General Washington and Lord Cornwallis on October 19, 1781. A new nation was thus assured its survival.

In the twentieth century, the most dramatic and profound war document in the history of the United States was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the Battleship USS MISSOURI (BB-63) on Tokyo Bay. This document, the Instrument of Surrender ended the hostilities of World War II. The link between the surrender at Yorktown and the surrender of the Empire of Japan in 1945, completed the rise of the United States of America to a position of vast military strength and global leadership.

A snip at price: ?14,500.00

There available now on Ebay, for anyone who collects. Still a bit pricey mind, I`m going to wait a month or so before adding a few to my collection.

LONDON (Reuters) - Three ancient medallions looted by the Nazis in World War Two and missing for more than 60 years are being returned to the heirs of the former owner, the Commission for Looted Art in Europe said on Tuesday.

The three gold-glass relics from the 4th century AD are decorated with some of the earliest known depictions of Jewish symbols from the Second Temple period.

Found in the Rome catacombs in the 17th century, they were part of the collection in Poland of Countess Isabella Dzialynska.

Hidden for safekeeping at the outbreak of war, they were found and taken by the Nazis in 1941 and sent to Austria on the orders of Adolf Hitler where they were once again looted by locals at the end of the war.

The three medallions were acquired in the 1960s by the Israel Museum Jerusalem which, under the deal with Dzialynska's heirs, is keeping two of them bearing the ancient Jewish symbols.

"We are very happy with the outcome," said Count Adam Zamoyski, speaking in London on behalf of the heirs.

"Although our purpose is to recover as many looted items as possible with a view to one day recreating the Dzialynska Collection in Poland, we fully recognize the importance of the two glasses to the Jewish people, and respect the wishes of the Israel Museum to keep them in Jerusalem."

One, with crouching lions of Judah and menorahs, has been purchased by the museum. The other, with three torah scrolls clearly visible, has been bought by a patron and given back to the museum on long-term loan.

The third, depicting a fruit basket and what is thought to be a duck, is being returned to the family.

"We are delighted to have agreed this restitution and to have facilitated the retention by the Israel Museum of the two gold-glasses with their significant Jewish motifs," said David Lewis and Anne Webber, of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe which represents the heirs and negotiated the deal.

"Many works of art from this renowned collection are still missing and we hope that the news of this restitution may contribute to their location and recovery in the future."

The return of the objects follows the restitution to the family two months ago of a 13th century Limoges enamel cross that was looted at the same time.

Set up in 1999, the commission has been instrumental in achieving the restitution of more than 3,000 Nazi looted objects.

And this just about covers everything else.................

http://blog.4rev.net/2008-02/nazi-gold-the-lost-treasure/

Yes I agree, but maybe next time hey? I was reading somewhere, that they believe theres a island somewhere, were the Reich buried a lot of this sort of thing, will see if I can find the site....

Found it............

http://www.detecting.org.uk/html/Nazi_Gold..._Detecting.html

Interestingly it appears that these coins are not a readily available as one might think. I just had to buy one from the US as no dealers in the UK seemed to have any, and Ebay (UK) was a blanck as well, but if you do collect silver dollars, I fully recommend these beautiful coins!! :jumping:

Old news from February 2008 I believe,

http://www.mahalo.com/Deutschneudorf

the find turned out to be nothing of consequence (as usual in such cases on missing nazi gold).

Kevin in Deva.

Yes I agree, but maybe next time hey? I was reading somewhere, that they believe theres a island somewhere, were the Reich buried a lot of this sort of thing, will see if I can find the site....

:cheers: Interesting thread to start off, but we`re through the looking glass now people! :off topic:

Maybe he refused promotion. Just wanted to be one of the lads. I can relate to that.

Well, I just picked up two this weekend at a local show and I paid US$18.00 for each. If I wanted what he had left, about twenty or so, he would have sold them for $17.50 each. They have increased in price a bit here, mostly due to silver spot increases, but nothing about shortages here. I think the Eagles were originally around $8.-$9. when I originally started collecting these back in 1986. Not a bad investment, but I always liked the Walking Liberty design and the size of the coin is really nice IMO.

Tim

Hi Tim, I`m inclined to agree with you, I think persons unknown, just jumped on the band wagon, when they heard talk of a shortage, and ideas of a repeat of the `96 saga. I`ve got a few `08s in my collection. I bought just in case. But like you say there really nice coins. Am looking forward to the `09!! Gordon.

Cheers Tim, will keep my eye out!!!

If your feeling flush, you could always go for the gold option.

http://www.pandaamerica.com/NEWS_HKLunar_1...g%20Kong%20Year

Beautiful!!!

Check out this beast of a coin!!!!! :speechless1:

In 1979, China began minting commemorative modern coins. In 1981, China began minting coins to commemorate the Chinese New Year. Typically the obverse features a historical building while the reverse features the lunar animal reproduced from historical Chinese drawings or paintings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_lunar_coins

http://www.astrologizeme.com/your_chinese_sign.shtml

http://www.pandausa.com/chinese-1oz-silver-lunar-coins.html

Nice series of coins, to start collecting, if your thinking of putting a collection together.............

The Perth Mint

Australian Lunar Silver Bullion Coins

In 1999, the Perth Mint decided issue a Chinese Lunar Year series of silver bullion coins, following the success of the gold versions which started in 1996.

http://www.kelleyscoins.com/au-coins/silver-lunar.htm

:jumping:

I`m reliabley informed that the 2009 Silver Eagle will be available at the end of January......

Found this on the net, thought it might be of interest..............

Just a few weeks prior the end of World War 2, Captain Charles Butler Mc Vay III received a secret mission for the U.S.S. Indianapolis. On July 26, the U.S.S. Indianapolis left Guam for Leyte, in the Philippines. They were due to arrive on July 30, 1945 at 11:00 AM. Unfortunately, they never made it!

In fact, on July 30, 1945 at 12:14 AM, the U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. It sank in 12 minutes. While a crew totaling 1,196 men was on board, 896 left the ship leaving 300 trapped on it, facing a certain death.

The sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis was also as the largest recorded shark attack. This tragic even was revived in the movie: "Ocean of Fear". The promotion of this documentary portrayed these men's traumatic experience according to the survivors' insights by using realistic shark attack videoclips.

On Day 1 of the crew's ordeal, approximately 120 to 150 sharks showed up. Most of the sharks' population was composed of blue sharks, silk sharks and Oceanic white tip sharks. During the first night, sharks were preying on the dead.

The first call for rescue was denied as it was considered to be either sent by a Japanese submarine intending to set them up for a trap or by an exaggerating officer that wants to impress his superior officer.

Approximately 200 crew members died due to injuries that occurred during the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. The sharks were mainly feeding on extremities rather than eating the bodies as a whole. The crew had to separate themselves from the dead and crew members that suffered from bleeding injuries in order to avoid becoming victims of shark attacks. In this case, the dead ended up saving a lot of lives as they attracted the sharks' attention on them instead of the survivors.

When some crew members found some Spam to eat, they had to suddenly get rid of it as it attracted sharks. That is when the shark attacks started to occur every 3 to 4 hours.

During the first day, some men gave up to the temptation of drinking some salt water. Unfortunately, doing such a thing sentences you to dehydration and a certain death 5 hours later.

On Day 2, the sharks became less shy, now attacking the wounded and the ones that were isolated from groups. The Navy only considered the ship to be late as such practice was a common situation.

On Day 3, shark attacks still occurred as disillusioned crew members attacked others, thirst encouraged some men to drink some saltwater, others were trying to physically stop them from doing so. Some men were having hallucinations and left to get some ice cream and fresh water on the sunken ship, never to return. The sun was hot and the water cold, having men suffer from exposure

During the 4th night, 300 men were declared dead by the doctor. None of them died of shark attacks. The Navy realized that the U.S.S. Indianapolis was overdue but still did not send a rescue team.

On Day 4, at about 4 PM, an airplane noticed them and dropped 1 raft and some survival gear before leaving them to get some help. On August 4, 1945 in the wee hours of the morning, the U.S. Navy arrived, rescuing the remaining 317 survivors. On September 2, 1945 World War II officially ended, closing a tragic chapter of humans' history.

While injuries, dehydration and exposure cost the lives of most of the crew that escaped the sunken ship, others were victims of shark attacks. In the end, about two dozen deaths were attributed to shark attacks.

The tragic event of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis has haunted the United States' history with the lost lives of a young crew which had an average age of 19 years old. While sharks had a definite part in this traumatic experience, they were not the main cause of this tragedy, human error was the culprit. Let's never forget the victims! They deserve that much!

My name is Sylvie Leochko. I am intrigued by sharks, which is why I like to share my acquired knowledge about them with others. If you wish to learn more about sharks, I encourage you to visit the following site: http://sharks.findoutnow.org

Cheers James, I`ll try the local Library , for those titles & see what they come up with.

In the original movie JAWS, the old Captain talks about this incident one night while reminicing about old "war" stories.

Classic stuff!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ACYu_ZNNA

I was reading somewhere that 14 US troops a day, `win` the Purple Heart.

It might be of interest to know, that the first two are US issue, as they have no bars. The bottom one is like the type that was issued to UK troops. I also think I`m right in saying that none of these medals are currently issued. The current Balkans issue is Non-Article Number 5.

The most recent NATO issue medal is for Afganistan, however, British troops are not allowed to wear it? Not sure if the US can, I would think yes.... :rolleyes:

Hi Guys,

Thought it might be of interest.

Theres currently a programme on Sky Animal Plant, called `Worst Shark Attack Ever` (currently saved `Anytime`, if everyones is the same?)

Anyway, basically its a 2 hour show, all about the USS Indianapolis, its well worth watching!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)

Guys, can anyone shine any more light on Major the Lord Davies,

I know.......

"Michael who became the second Lord Davies was killed in Holland in September 1944 holding the rank of Major in the R.W.F."

He was killed in action leading his men on the 25th Sept 1944, and was buried in a German aid station cemetary near Hooge.

This is all the information, I have been able to find out, I would have thought with him being a Lord and all that there would be far more information available, and even pictures of him. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

It may also be of interest to note, that there is no trace on him, on the CWGC site.

I`m not expert, but I thought maybe the Duke of Edinburgh`s Royal Regiment?

From the Royal Mint....

"Dear Mr Caldecott Thank you for your e-mail regarding circulation 20 pence coins. The Royal Mint can confirm that a small number of new design 20 pence coins have been incorrectly struck using the obverse from the previous design, resulted in these coins having no date. The issue has now been resolved and the Royal Mint would like to reassure members of the public that these coins are legal tender. Prior to the new reverse designs which were launched in April 2008, the date appeared on the reverse side of the 20p. As the date on the new designs has been moved to the obverse side, minting the coin with the new reverse but previous obverse has meant no date appears on the coin. Only one batch of coins has been incorrectly struck and there are between 100,000 and 200,000 coins in a typical batch. The Royal Mint produced 1.3 billion coins in 2007/08 and has a number of quality control procedures in place to ensure all coins are consistently struck to the highest standards. The Royal Mint has launched an investigation RegardsJayne WilliamsCustomer Services"