Collecting in Brazil

I got fascinated with Brazil early in my life. I was about 10 when I have come across a book by Gabor Molnar, adventures in the Amazonas. It was about a Hungarian young man, who went to Brazil at the end of the 1920’s to hunt and collect animals to send to the Hungarian National Museum, which by the way hosts the largest numismatic collection in Hungary. The book was in Hungarian, and it was, I exactly remember, 14 braille volumes. It took me months to read through it, and I could not put it down. I think by the time I finished it, I could say I learned to read. Brazil from about 100 years ago, just fascinated me with its culture, language and nature.

Later at the university I started learning Portuguese, but the European dialect, so when it ever came to European or Brazilian, I always picked the European, so somehow I got very interested in Portugal, and Brazil got on the back burner. Today that little Portuguese I speak is mostly European.

Nine years ago just out of the blue I got an opportunity to speak at a conference in Sao Paulo. 20 years after reading the book, my interest sparked again, but the trip wasn’t anything too interesting. I could say I was in Brazil, and I met a few interesting people. It was an airport hotel, airport conference.

Last year an opportunity came up to visit Brazil again, but it took me 15 months to make it happen, either it was postponed, or I didn’t have time. But finally all plans were in place.

This time I have seriously prepared for the trip. A year ago when the opportunity came up, I read everything from Gabor Molnar I could get my hands on. Then a few months ago I seriously got back to learning Portuguese, which I haven’t really abandoned over the years, but I didn’t put much effort into it, either. I was memorizing words, listening to the radio, and did all my readings about Brazil in Portuguese, I have to say, mostly about history and coins.

During the trip I was in three cities, Rio de Janeiro, Campinas and in Sao Paulo.

As part of the preparation, I have collected all information about money museums, coin stores and clubs in Brazil. There really isn’t too much. That is, information. There is the mint in Rio de Janeiro, but when I wrote to them, they said that they didn’t have anything for blind people. When I asked if I could stop by anyway, I didn’t get a response. I later found out that when I had time they were closed, so unfortunately I could not visit them.

I got a little more info from Sao Paulo, there is the Brazilian Numismatic Association, but then again, I did not get any responses from them when I wrote.

I was not able to find much info about Campinas, especially not anything numismatically related. Given that I have most of the current circulation coins, this trip wasn’t too promising numismatically. Fortunately, things turned out to be much better.

However, I have to say I missed so much in August due to my schedule. First, I did not attend the ANA Convention in Philadelphia, which I was planning to do for a year, because I was in Brazil. No regrets there, I would choose a trip to Brazil, but it was somewhat unfortunate that both happened at the same time. Later I learned that there was a huge coin show in Rio de Janeiro after I left Brazil, and another big one in Sao Paulo when I was in Campinas. I couldn’t have scheduled my time differently, even if I tried, again unfortunate, but after all, it was a work trip, and not a vacation. Usually I am happy for anything I can squeeze in.

When I arrived to Campinas, I found out that there was a coin store, which I went to visit. All I had was the address, the phone number didn’t work. When I arrived, I found a gallery and different little stores, but nobody even heard about the coin and stamp store. So, if I had done anything for the hobby was reporting it to Google Maps so that they can update their information.

Though it didn’t have much to do with coin collecting, I have to share my experience trying to exchange money.

With my colleague we called a place, they said it is ok, just make sure your money is good quality. Sure deal, authentic US Dollars, straight from the BEP. So, back to the hotel, I stopped at the bank, explained that I wanted to exchange US Dollars to Brazilian Reals. No problem, just sit down, we will call you. After a half hour, I was wondering when were they going to call me, when I learned that people were eating lunch, but they will let me know. Ok, sorry, we all need to eat lunch, even though it was already 3 pm. Finally a lady came and took me upstairs, she unlocked an office, sat me down, and asked for the third time what I would like. Still, exchange money. Still in Portuguese, not to confuse anybody. Ok, please show me the money. Here, you go. No, we don’t buy this. Well, why? We don’t buy $50 bills. Ok, here is a hundred, do you buy this one? No, not this one. How about some small change, like 20? No, no. What kind of money do you buy? We don’t buy any money, you will have to exchange your money at another bank. Where do I find such a bank? I don’t know, maybe in another town. I have to say, I did not succeed to exchange money in Campinas, but it is also true that I didn’t need any, all places I went to accepted a credit card.

It was also in Campinas that I have learnd about the Collectado site, which is for collectors of all things. I found that there are many collectors, and the site indicates not only the country, but also the city of the collector. Collectors tend to be very cautious with their addresses, of course, for a reason, but I think the town/city doesn’t give much away. So, when I want to meet people during my trips, I have no idea whom to write to, because a country is usually too big to get together with collectors. So, I registered, and I found two people in Campinas. I wrote to both of those and a day later a gentleman responded. Unless I get specific permissions, I do not mention people by name on this blog. I have to admit, I forgot to ask, and it never came up. He offered to meet me anywhere I wanted to, and finally he was nice to come to my hotel so that I don’t have to find him. It was a great idea, because I knew we could sit down and talk quietly. We met at one evening and talked for over a couple of hours. Again, for protecting personal information, I leave it there, but I have to say he is a very interesting collector, I really enjoyed learning about him and his collection, and we since then exchanged some more emails.

In Sao Paulo I visited the Praca da Republica, which has something like a flea market. I have to say I was a bit afraid, I heard that you have to be careful with your stuff, but I really wanted to buy some coins. I think I got there too early, because a guy told me that the coin vendors are not there yet, but he asked me to wait. In about 15 minutes he took me to a vendor who arrived. I think he was a security guy. It was a very nice lady selling coins, she had some great stuff and was very knowledgeable about Brazilian coins. She also told me what the hours are at the Numismatic Society, this was the first time I got some real information. I picked up the slavery abolition commemorative series and a couple of older coins. Note that the 100 Cruzados has braille on it, but the dots are represented by stars.

A couple of days later I had some time to stop by. An interesting place, there was only a lady I met there, she was kind to speak slowly so I understood pretty much everything. After all, reading numismatics in Portuguese paid off.

She explained that this is the largest numismatic museum and library in Latin America. The museum is only opened on Tuesday and Friday, and there are meetings for people to swap coins on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I found this most frustrating, because it is something I could have attended if I knew ahead of time, if they wrote back to me. I bought a book about the Numismatic Society, and went back to the hotel.

Throughout my trip, I was reading Gabor Molnar’s first book which taught me to read. Timing it so that I finish it by the last day. I was also able to get this book in Sao Paulo in Portuguese, which I wanted to have for years now.

I also gave myself a challenge in Brazil, I wanted to speak Portuguese only during my free time. It wasn’t possible at work, and I couldn’t have done my presentations in Portuguese anyway, at least not within the time I had. But I did succeed, outside of work I spoke almost all the time in Portuguese, and I think I have learned a lot.

Brazil was a great place, it doesn’t look like I will be going there often in the future, but one day I definitely would like to return, now with all the information I have, I would like to visit the places I missed this time.