Render unto Caesar. . .

By Sol Gold
This item appears on page 55 of the April 2013 issue.

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is SOL GOLD of Las Vegas, NV:

While on a tour of Turkey about 10 years ago, I was walking through the ruins of Pergamum with another tour member when we were approached by a young local man who asked if we would like to buy a Roman coin for a dollar.

Obviously, we both knew it was not a Roman coin, but my companion felt generous and bought the coin for one dollar.

Just to have a little fun, and to let the kid know we had not been fooled, I asked to see the coin. After pretending to examine it carefully, I announced, “Actually, I think this may be a real Roman coin. Check out the date: ‘23 BC’.”

Even our coin seller had to smile at this.