Description:

Churchill, Eisenhower, Montgomery, Steinbeck, FDR's Son and Over 100 Other WWII Era Signers on a Short Snorter! Churchill, Ike & Montgomery Likely Sign at Secret Meeting Where D-Day Was Planned!

Short Snorter, 10 bills attached, 50.5" x 3”, and 17 more not attached ranging in size and used as currency across the world and collected during WWII. Expected wear, folds and yellowed tape holding the bills together. A short snorter is a banknote inscribed by people traveling together on an aircraft. The tradition was started by Alaskan bush flyers in the 1920s and spread through the military and commercial aviation. During World War II short snorters were also 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". When someone famous popped up, soldiers would add them to their snorter. 

This incredibly unique short snorter consists of approximately 113 total signatures including those of Dwight Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, Bernard Montgomery, John Steinbeck, Elliot Roosevelt, George Raft, Jack Benny and over 100 other WWII era soldiers and other participants.

The evidence leads us to believe that the signatures were collected in 1943-4 by an aide, soldier, or war correspondent as would be the custom. We also believe that it is likely that the bill signed by Eisenhower, Churchill & Montgomery was signed in Scotland at the top secret meeting where D-Day was planned, presumedly May of 1944 based on this BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190604-the-top-secret-meeting-that-helped-win-d-day.

In January 1944, General Eisenhower had taken command as the Supreme Commander of the Allied invasion forces. At Eisenhower’s request, British General Bernard L. Montgomery conducted a review of the existing D-Day invasions plans. The most critical change in the original D-Day plans that Montgomery recommended to Eisenhower was the expansion of the amphibious assault from three to five divisions, of which Eisenhower fully approved. Churchill, Eisenhower, Montgomery and E.E. Partridge all signed the same bill on the snorter, leading us to believe that the group was together when the bill was signed. 

Steinbeck, we learned, in 1943 served as a World War II war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. He participated in an invasion of an island off the coast of Italy and used a Thompson submachine gun to help capture Italian and German prisoners.

This incredible piece of WWII history is the only item we have ever handled with the signatures of Churchill, Eisenhower, Partridge and Montgomery, four key WWII figures. The snorter is certainly worthy of more research in order to identify the 100+ signatures which we have not yet identified and to nail down the exact date and circumstances that it was acquired.  

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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May 4, 2022 10:30 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

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