Today was a red-letter day for the Coin Zoo. I was at work sitting at my desk this morning when Mary popped in with some mail. "It's from Rome!" she said. I looked at the envelope, and sure enough it was from Rome, Italy. Being in Barrie, Ontario, Canada (population 125,000), that can be quite exciting. I noticed that the return address indicated it was from the F.A.O. of the U.N. Ahhh... I think I know what this is. I cut it open and slid out the contents which brought a huge smile to my face.

While attending the summer Torex coin show in Toronto, I had the pleasure of meeting Dan Gosling, 2nd Vice President and Librarian of the Canadian Numismatic Association. While we sat on the patio sipping some brews, Dan got talking about some of his articles in the CN Journal, and I had to admit that I had let my membership lapse due to procrastinating (and losing the renewal form). At Dan's suggestion, I went downstairs to visit the CNA table where I paid up and was handed all the back issues of the Journal. At the time, I was completely unaware what one of those issues had in store for me.