In September, 2010 I saw a really cool USS Thomas J Gary Zippo on the NZ TradeMe auction site, a Town and Country model. I started bidding on the item and decided I'd had
enough when the bidding hit $175. At the time I didn't know that Paul Fleming was the gent I was bidding against.
The next month I met Paul and Martine at their shop in Christchurch,
NZ. Later that evening Paul drove us to Port Lyttleton to have a look around, then to their home for a wonderful evening of talk, tea and looking at Paul's Zippo collection. Oh yea, we also
experienced a 5.2 earthquake while visiting Paul and Martine's home.
Of course, the TJ Gary Zippo was now in Paul's possession and I tried, all evening, to negotiate it away from him, with no success. The best I could do was get some pictures.
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