AMaZing Mail Department, from yesterday: this object:
(#1) A short snorter whose signers include John K. Zwicky (across the very right edge of George Washington’s face); JKZ, of Coalinga CA, is a familiar — as well as familial — character on this blog
#1 came in surprise e-mail yesterday from James A. Downey, who’s been researching the names on the short snorter and so was led to this blog. So, two things: JKZ and short snorters.
About JKZ. In two previous postings:
— from 12/7/22, “Coalinga Zwicky goes to war”, featuring a photo of Army Air Force Lt. John K. Zwicky of Coalinga CA, sunbathing with two buddies in the Aleutian Islands in 1944:
(#2) (from the 1944 caption) JKZ; Ernest R. Grey, Lafayette IN; and Phillip M. Lynett, Richmond Hill NY
— from 1/26/23, “Return to Coalinga”: a follow-up about JKZ’s return to Coalinga after World War II and his family there
A (text) note about the (bank) note in #1. From Jim Downey’s e-mail:
The note belonged to Fred Mollwitz, a combat photographer from Milwaukee. Mollwitz was in Alaska the same time Zwicky was.
The signature of Earnest [AZ: Ernest in the caption from 1944] R Grey, who was in the sunbathing photo with John, is also on the note two below John’s.
About short snorters. From Wikipedia (considerably edited by me):
A short snorter is a banknote inscribed by people traveling together on an aircraft. The tradition started in the 1920s and spread through military and commercial aviation. During World War II short snorters were signed by flight crews and conveyed good luck to soldiers crossing the Atlantic. Friends would take the local currency and sign each other’s bills creating a “keepsake of your buddy’s signatures”.
… The tradition is believed to have been started in August 1925, by bush pilots in Alaska, spreading through the US military during World War II. After a bill was signed, a collector would have to produce it upon request by others who had theirs; if the collector couldn’t, they were bound to buy the others a drink. Short snorters sell on eBay and at other auction venues.
During World War II reunions, short snorters were often compared by veterans.
The drinking part of these customs is where the snort in short snorter comes from. From NOAD:
noun snort: … [d] informal a measure of an alcoholic drink: a bottle of rum was opened and they took a good long snort.
Compare the roughly similar nouns
drink, sip, gulp; (informal / slang) swig, shot, slug, nip
Addendum on 3/10, with answers to questions. I wrote to James A. Downey to clarify some points in his earlier mail. He’s now replied, and added a bit of further information.
Ernest or Earnest Grey? JAD: Ernest.
Of the many James Downeys in the US, which one is he? JAD:
I’m a country lawyer in northeast Wisconsin. I have been a paper money collector since childhood. About 15 years ago I began collecting and researching short snorters when I found one signed by a Catholic chaplain who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in the Philippines in WWII. I have hundreds. I have given presentations on many of them at numismatic conventions. I refer to the [signers] as ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
I have a blog site numismaticnotebook.com where I have written about some of them (among other numismatic topics). Unfortunately, I have not been able to keep it going as much as I would like.
Where did this short snorter come from? JAD:
This one belonged to a colleague of mine who passed away recently …, Neil Shafer …, one of the world’s foremost authorities on collecting paper money. His collection is now being sold by his family.