Monterrey, Mexico Show Report
pruebas
Posts: 4,613 ✭✭✭✭✭
How I spent my Juneteenth holiday (hint, it wasn’t Baltimore).
11
pruebas
Posts: 4,613 ✭✭✭✭✭
Comments
Have fun…please keep us posted
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Opening day. This is the main salon. Unfortunately my table is in the overflow salon.
Two new interesting books. Varieties of SUDs and Oaxaca banknotes. From a prolific “varieties author.”
Very cool! Hope I can get a copy of that Morelos book sometime. Thank you for sharing.
I bought one for myself. If anyone wants one, send me DM before Saturday and I’ll pick you up a copy for cost plus media mail shipping from NJ.
This one isn’t new, but for the price, it’s excellent information.
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.
Great report!
Keep those food pics coming, please.
This is the Society medal for the 55th Anniversary of the Numismatic Society of Monterrey. 51g of Sterling silver. Mintage=55 and sold out. Medal number 55 will be in Saturday’s auction and available for bidding by the public.
It’s a replica of a 1914 “bilimbique” of Nuevo León (a small banknote of the state of which Monterrey is a part).
Great report... good to read that the show is a success.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
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?
8 Reales Madness Collection
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.
Just some photos from today. These are the raffle prizes. One great idea they had to get people to the overflow room is to put the raffle drop box in there along with the display of the prizes.
Today at 11:00 and 4:30, there were around 10 drawings. You had to be there to win, otherwise they drew again.
Here were the day’s prizes:
I love that the shows here are more than commercial events. And that’s what Daniel is trying to do for the NYC Latin American show.
The police car with flashing lights was there again today, but the officers stayed in the car the whole day!
As somebody who has lived for many years in both, Mexico City and Monterrey, I dispute numbers 6 and 8 in your list @pruebas 😄 You do not want to eat seafood in Monterrey as their stakes are king. And no, food in Nuevo Leon is not even close to the variety of central and south Mexico. Sure they have the stakes, but they use flour tortillas, something near sinful. Otherwise, quite to the point. I have to emphasise how expensive Monterrey is and how bad the traffic is. But there is a lot of money there and almost anything you need or want, even a nice coin show.
@Abuelo I LOVE flour tortillas. I guess I’ll always be a gringo!
@pruebas fluor?
I cannot recognise the hotel... I guess I need to go back!
To stay on topic, I dislike soft corn tortillas (though toasted as chips I'll devour). Much prefer flour for whatever calls for a soft tortilla. Am also a gringo.
I like a Michelada having a splash of Worcestershire besides just the hot sauce - not totally uncommon. Homemade spicy salt would be best, but Tajin works well enough; the worm salt is pretty good.
But if it's made with LEMON juice (??!!!), we might as well use Guinness as the beer!!
Seems like all in all a good trip.