New communication from the enigmatic Quarter Master at Quarter Notes, Ltd.

So I got an unexpected small Flat Rate Priority box in the mail today. It was rather heavy.

Inside, the shipper had done an admirable packaging job. How many shippers do you know who reinforce the inside of their packages with careful constructions like this, including pieces of wood?




While the identity of The Quarter Master remains unknown to me to this day, his mailings (fake return address and all) have become familiar.

Inside, of course, were a couple of rolls of the Quarter Master’s handiwork: those counterstamped quarters with mysterious, riddle-like, and pun-laden phrases on them, which everyone enjoys puzzling over. And some other baubles.





So it seems I have been drafted (once again) to distribute more of them. I never volunteered for this job, but I suppose I can’t really object, either, since it does pay pretty well.

Here, I’ll just let you read his letter to me. It’s a personal letter, not one of his mass mailings- so apparently I’m special- nyah nyah.

Following that- and also reproduced below- are some pages of his manifesto - um - manuscript. I’ll leave you to make of that what you will. (With all the curious redactions, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher for me.)

Yes, now that I’ve been paid to do so, I will be posting some more giveaways of Quarter Notes counterstamped quarters in the near future (with perhaps a few of his other trinkets thrown in).

The nice Silver Eagle he included is slated for a future round in one of the CTF giveaways (I’ll do a round with the Quarter Master as anonymous donor, which will include that ASE as well as a bunch of his quarters.)

So if you’re reading this, QM (and I know you will be), I’ll get on that as soon as I can, OK? Between my own giveaways and being coordinator of the CTF giveaways, I stay fairly busy.

 

Hmm. Maybe he should make you the distributor!

Then you’d be able to cherrypick the source, right?

Tell ya what, though: PM or text me the list of the remaining empty holes in your album, and I’ll see what I can do, given the new inventory on hand…

PS- how the heck did he know I’d foisted off the few remnants of his last big boxful on you when we were at the FUN show? I finally fulfilled my obligation to distribute them, and the next thing you know, here comes another boxful!

But yeah, another Benjamin, too, so OK, I’ll go with the flow, I reckon.

Seems I’m on the auto-renewing “subscription plan”, huh.

PPS- To be fair, I should add that being on the QM’s mailing list is not a bad place to be. How many other unsolicited mailings do you get which include not only coins, but also the occasional high-denomination US currency note? Not too many, I’ll wager.

Rock On, Quarter Master. I’ve said it before: you’re crazy, but you’re my kinda crazy.

 

Oh, I ain’t gonna give ‘em away one at a time. They’ll go in batches of ten or twelve. With all different designs/counterstamps, as long as there’s enough variety in the source rolls. There usually is.

 

Is it, or were the flat areas missing detail merely caused by the counterstamping somehow?

 

I confess I only just now got around to reading the QM’s 3-page manuscript excerpt in full (I was too focused on photographing it and posting it earlier, and had merely skimmed it).

One interesting fact I gleaned is that he is apparently descended from a family (of merchants, one presumes?) who counterstamped large cents before or during the Civil War! I found that to be an interesting little nugget of information. (Love those old counterstamped large cents.)

So you might say, the counterstamping thing is in his blood. That’s pretty cool.

 

BTW, I apologize if the creases in the folded letter make it a bit difficult to read in the photos. I should’ve tried to flatten ‘em out a little more.

 

As if I owned an iron? LOL

 

Nope, not even that either, though golf is a big thing down here (and the resort company I work for caters mostly to golfers). I've played exactly nine holes of golf in my whole life. I did sink a 20-foot putt on on one of 'em, though, so I was proud of that (beginner's luck?)

 

That's interesting. Might only be 15 cents there, but it's an attention-grabber (just as they no doubt intended).

That at least ensures that someone will open your envelope before they trash it!

Speaking of that, and given the Quarter Master's habit of occasionally enclosing a $50 bill in some people's Quarter Notes mailings, I wonder how many people never bothered to open them, trashed the whole unopened envelope, and thus sent a counterstamped quarter and a fifty-dollar bill to the landfill?

 

New Quarter Notes giveaway posted February 15th. Drawing on March 1st.