[Milsurplus] [armyradios] Waaay OT: Coconut from the Mariannas in WW II

[joldenburg2 at new.rr.com]

In 1993 I ordered a old tyme school bell from a foundry in Alabama. Just looking at their add I thought that a 12-inch bell refered to the total overall height of the bell and it's mounting yolk for the post. I figured the 12" bell would be nice to mount on an extended railing post on my vacation home as my door bell. Ends up that bells where measured by the diameter of the base of the bell. The 12" bell was about 16" tall on the bell and when mounted on the yolk is about 24" overall and weighs about 20 pounds in total. The foundry shipped it sans any packing. They bound the yolk to the bell with binding wire and just attached a label with the mailing address and postage. I arrived OK with no issues other than my postman complaining about it being so darn akward.
 Jon AB9AH
---- Jay Coward <jcoward5452 at aol.com> wrote: 

=============

I've heard it told that you can mail a loaf of bread if it has the right postage amount...
Jay



-----Original Message-----
From: J. Forster <jfor at quikus.com>
To: ArmyRadios <ArmyRadios at yahoogroups.com>
Cc: ARC5 <ARC5 at mailman.QTH.net>; Milsurplus <Milsurplus at mailman.QTH.net>; VMARS <VMARS at yahoogroups.com>; Vintage-Military-RADAR <Vintage-Military-RADAR at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Apr 2, 2013 11:39 am
Subject: [armyradios] Waaay OT: Coconut from the Mariannas in WW II


 

I was just lent a coconut that is sort of 'trench art' from WWII or
shortly thereafter. I know little to nothing about it, but thought to ask
here.

The coconut is missing all its hair and has a nutlike shell. It's actually
pretty big, like a US football about 10" in the long axis and 8" max OD.
The cross section is roughly triangular.

On one surface is painted:

From:
A.P. Houlihan Pfr (?)
49 USNCB Co. A-2
c/o Fleet PO
San Francisco
Calif.

To:
Arthur P. Houlihan
10 Kendal Ave
Framingham
Mass
USA

There are also four stamps pasted to the shell

Green Purple Purple Ivory
1 Cent 25 Cent 25 Cent ?????

------------------

The second side is blank.

------------------

The third side has

"Greetings from the Marianas" painted in an arc over a scene of an island
with several palm trees.

Unfortunately, some parts of the surface layer and paint are missing. I
thought about trying to get a photo or two, but it is very low contrast.

Can anyone provide further info on this curiosity?

Best,

-John

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--
Jon Oldenburg AB9AH
"A bicycle can't stand on it's own because it is two tired..."