A precious metal laugh

It pays to have a sense of humor, whether you are in the numismatic field or any other.

I had a letter from Charles Allen, a Numismatic News reader the other day who wanted to share a recent experience with me.

He ordered a copy of a new book from F&W Media, my parent firm.

David L. Ganz has written a new one about precious metals. The title is The Essential Guide to Investing in Precious Metals.

What Mr. Allen received was a book called precious metal, with no capital letters.

The subtitle of this book is Decibel presents the stories behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. It is edited by Albert Mudrian and is about heavy metal bands.

Not the same thing, is it?

When the heavy metal book arrived, Mr. Allen was surprised.

He telephoned our customer service department. They apologized and sent him the book he wanted. They also told him to keep the heavy metal book.

Mr. Allen decided this episode was a great joke and shared it with me.

When his package arrived in my mail, I was more than a little surprised to see the book, too. His accompanying letter explained the whole thing.

Thanks to Charles Allen’s sense of humor, I had a good laugh, too.

But now what do I do with the heavy metal book?