Monterrey, Mexico Show Report

First day show report.

Let me start off with…..I’ve never been to Monterrey before. I’ve been to many places in Mexico, but never Monterrey. I was a bit worried about Mexican Customs, because if they X-Rayed my bag, I could owe a large duty (16% of value over the exemption of $500). Well, they did X-Ray my bag, and then waved me though! 👏🏻

I purposely took only a carry-on for both my inventory and my 5 days worth of clothes, so I was a bit limited in what I brought (not to mention the weight of the thing!).

Monterrey is the third largest city in Mexico, after Mexico City and Guadalajara, and is known to be the richest, probably due to all the manufacturing in the area. Being 3-4 hours by car from the USA border (McAllen, TX), it's an easy drive. But the airport is a mess. Long walks through windy passageways. No signage for Uber. I heard it’s being upgraded for the World Cup next year. We’ll see.

My initial unbiased impressions of Monterrey after having known Mexico City pretty well for 25 years:

1) This is South Texas!
2) Big car culture. Unlike Mexico City, there is less public transportation. Lots of parking.
3) Prices are higher than Mexico City.
4) People here have closer ties to the USA.
5) Many visiting engineers and mechanics (to keep those factories in tune). You can tell due to the company name and logo embroidered on their shirt.
6) Lots of seafood and ceviche (unusual being that it is further from the Gulf than is Mexico City).
7) Lots of great, artisanal beers. And beers on draft (from a keg, uncommon in Mexico City)!
8) Northern Mexican food has a lot more variety than Central Mexican.
9) A third of the city has Garza in one of their names! OK, maybe it’s only one quarter.
10) Much of the population here is whiter than in Mexico City. More European and less mestizo, I guess.

The show is held annually, and sponsored by the Numismatic Society of Monterrey, which is 55 years old and has a ton of members from all over the country, most of them very serious and “patriotic” (they love their city). The show is very professionally done with excellent security. They even have actual police inside and a police car with lights flashing outside the hotel (a bit strange because, as one former Mexican Numismatic Society President once told me, nobody is paying any taxes on all those transactions at the show). I think it helps that there are VIPs here who collect coins and support the Society.

There is supposedly a waiting list for tables, so beginning with this show, they added a second, smaller overflow room, so a few extra dealers could have tables. I got my table at the last minute and of course was situated in the overflow room. But surprisingly, there were 2 empty tables there today.

The show opened in the main room, so it started out slow in the overflow, but soon customers started trickling in. Given my limited luggage space (and, unlike in Mexico City, I don’t store any inventory here), I couldn’t satisfy everyone. But at the end of the day, I sold much of my lower-priced inventory. I didn’t sell one slab nor one higher-priced set. Hopefully, by Saturday things will change. But I did ok today. Especially since the less expensive items have a better margin.

My main reason for coming was to get to know Monterrey (since I’m considering moving here or Guadalajara one day), to try a “commuter show,” to keep in the Mexican numismatic information loop, and to pick up a rather expensive purchase that I already paid for. And for those reasons, mission accomplished, even after only the first day.

I also bought this book, again from Dr. Amaya, (since I own some of these Puebla dies):

For those who want to see food, I ate “botanas” for dinner. These are similar to tapas—small dishes to share. But since I was alone, it was hard to sample much. I had “esquites” (a corn salad which I wanted to sample) and an octopus dish. And then a nice flan, which I couldn’t finish.

The drink in the back is an Indio from a bottle (no draft at this place) supposedly served “michealada” style but michealada should have lemon juice, and this one had a dark sauce, like Worcestershire, so I would call that a “cubana.” Also the chile on the rim was straight Tajin, not a custom mix. Michealadas are better in CDMX!

Sorry, I can’t enter links in a post from my phone, so please use your favorite search engine.

More to come.

@TwoKopeiki said:
Thanks for a great report. Your comment on not selling any slabs - was that a common theme across the show or are some pieces were more acceptable certified than some others?

I don’t generally sell Mexican coins in Mexico. I leave that to the locals, who can usually source cheaper than I. I may sell patterns, often duplicates or something I picked up reasonably, but didn’t manage to get anything ready for this trip.

So my slabs are “shiny silver.” Modern world silver crowns. I guess with the high price of silver, those aren’t moving well. Maple Leaf’s in all their varieties, seem to have the most traction.

A comment about Mexican coins in slabs. Mexican dealers have lots of them. Most are details graded. And from all epochs. With the escalation of prices of coins, that’s the only thing they can buy for resale. Straight graded coins go so high that they cannot be resold in Mexico (one reason I don’t sell them).

But there are many modern Mexican medals in high-grade slabs here.

The other thing present here is the self-slabbed stuff. Nothing more to say about that.

Following up with the final days and thoughts to close out the thread.

The second day (Friday), I had many tire kickers, but only one paying customer. But he made my show. He purchased many premium sets that I brought, which made my return home much lighter. We generally call Friday "Black Friday" because it is so dead. But the show was pretty busy all days.

The third and final day, the Friday customer returned and purchased three slabbed SAEs. I also sold one additional slab to another customer for his young son, for whom I gave a great price. Since much of my material was depleted, I let my next door tablemate use a part of my table to showcase a fantastic collection of Monterrey Numismatic Society medals they were selling. All were self-slabbed and I wish I got a photo.

So all in all, I sold lots of US material (raw or in sets or albums) and four slabbed coins. My expenses were more than covered and I made some profit. But more importantly, I made many connections and even joined the Monterrey Numismatic Society, purportedly the first gringo to do so. Interestingly enough, I was given a membership pin right away and although I have been a member of the Mexican Numismatic Society for more than 20 years, I still have yet to receive a membership pin from them.

As for purchases, I bought 3 books, and 5 modern medals (2 of which were slabbed). And I picked up the (secret) purchase I had previously made and paid for via transfer.

On Friday, I had dinner with Pablo Luna Herrera, the author of the Mexican Patterns of the Twentieth Century book and he gave me a copy of his latest book on the legal and historical background of the 1841 Pattern Centavo.

For those interested, you can purchase that book here.

Finally, on Sunday, I visited the museum "La Milarca", a recently-opened museum which is basically a self-aggrandizing or vanity museum for Mauricio Fernández Garza. I'm not sure of the sustainability of such museums, so I wanted to see it while it was new. Not to mention he has some pattern coins on display. (Other vanity museums, such as the Getty Museum and the Soumaya Museum (of Carlos Slim) seem to be doing ok, so maybe I am off base.)

Fernández is a well-known collector of Mexican copper and has written three books on Mexican municipal tokens. Mike Dunigan's name is on the entrance as numismatic advisor.

The numismatic collection was definitely broad, but of the coins I was interested in, the quality was lacking. Still, overall, an impressive collection.

The museum is presented as a "Cabinet of Curiosities" and it was certainly a varied collection. Fossils, minerals, pottery, paintings, and antiques along with numismatics. Of the entire collection, however, the thing I found most interesting were the three ceilings in the three buildings. Fernández purchased these from William Randolph Hearst in 1979 and they came from Spanish castles. Quite wonderful.

In retrospect, I would now tend to agree with @Abuelo. No, not about the flour tortillas--NEVER. But about the food variety in Northern Mexico. I think Southern Mexico (Oaxaca) has the best food, followed by Central Mexico and the Bajío. The Yucatán is up there too. Northern Mexico was different, but not all that great, other than having more seafood on offer.

But as for a place to live, as a New Yorker, I could never live in such a car-centric place as Monterrey. Just trying to take public transportation, you take your life in your hands just getting to the bus stop, and the bloody thing doesn't even stop to pick you up.

Edited to show one of the medals I purchased as a gift:

Oh, and one more addition. On the way home, I got to fly a true flying antique. A United Airlines 757-200, probably 40 years old. It was completely full and incredibly, they managed to accommodate almost everyone's carry on luggage in those small, old overhead bins.