Rod E. Bates really is a man for all seasons who wears an assortment of hats to cover his many personas and interests! Rod works hard for his money. Most of the time (seven days a week) you will find Bates at 107 South Tarnava Street in Port Isabel Texas; somewhere behind a group of glass show cases, filled to overflowing with old coins and antique jewelry. But every once in a while Rod goes missing; you won’t find hide, nor hair of him at Rio Bravo. He just disappears. If you look hard, you might find him out in a field, or down in a gulley or ravine. He could be on some far-off beach or perhaps in the ruins of an old building in Mexico. Or Rod may be doing his traveling one man band routine, in a convention center near you
Rod once told me a story about how he became interested in Mexican coins. It seems Neil Utberg was a frequent visitor to Rod’s Mom and Dad’s shop, Seagull Imports, after they moved to Port Isabel in 1972 from Minnesota when Rod was only a young tike. Rod already had an interest in coins, but only US coins at the time. Utberg handed little Rod several foreign coins and told Rod he wanted him to research them and give him a report on his findings when he returned to Seagull Imports the next time. It seems there were some Mexican coins in the batch, not only did Rod give Utberg his report on his next visit, Rod asked Neil where he could get some of the Mexican coins for the collection he was starting. This one incident was the beginning of a great collector and the reason Bates became more than just a “hole filler”. Yes, Rod Bates became a Mexican Numismatist at the ripe young age of 8.
Soon after this young Rod was taking trips to Mexico, on his own, to find Mexican coins. Real coin shops were few and far between in Mexico, so Bates soon learned where to sniff out the people that might have nice Mexican material, not just coins. By now he was also interested in Mexican History, especially about Mexico’s many wars. Soon young Bates was finding all types of coins and military memorabilia. But his budget was slim, so he began to sell some of the items he collected in order to raise money to buy the better items that were now being offered to him. Rod still practices this trait, he always seems to need cash and he has a theory that many of the better items he sells to others will someday be offered to him again. (See the Rod Bates Rare Coin Theory)
Bates told me another tale about how he found a modern day gold mine in a little shop deep in Matamoros one day. He was canvassing a neighborhood, where one of his scouts had told of a man that owned boxes of gold had a small shop. He found the shop, the man, and the boxes of small gold coins. You see the old man didn’t believe in paper money or banks, he had been saving gold 1 Pesos, ½ Escudos, 1 Escudos and even a few higher denominations his entire life. The old man told Rod he had visions that one day a redheaded man would show up and make him rich. It took several years for Rod to buy all of the old man’s gold because he didn’t feel he should even try to dicker. No, Rod paid exactly what the old man wanted for each coin, and Rod said he was very knowledgeable about the coins he owned. The old man continued to be a good source for Bates for many years and every once in a while he would get a message, “It’s time for you to come to Matamoros”. Rod would then gather together all of the cash he could and travel over the border. The last time he got the message to travel it took several days before he made it to that back street in Matamoros. But the old man was gone, the grime reaper beat Rod to the punch and the old man’s last treasure hasn’t been seen since.
The coins that Rod purchased from that Matamoros back street, along with a few additions from some of the other great old collections such as the Carter and Norweb collections, later became one of the better collections of gold minors ever assembled in the US. But somewhere along the way Rod became strapped for cash and they are now gone to the four winds.
But this loss didn’t deter our boy, he still collected other denominations of Mexican coins-- if fact he put together world-class collections of both 5 Centavos and 10 Centavos. These two collections have departed south Texas during another cash crunch, but the collector in Rod reigns supreme. Now that he finally has a well-established business and isn’t always robbing the piper, he is back collecting. Sorry, I can’t tell you what; I’m sworn to secrecy.
By the time I met Rod he was already a collector/dealer. I bought my first Mexican coins from him in the early 1980s while he still worked at Seagull Imports. After our first visit to sleepy little Port Isabel my family soon became entrenched there. At first it was a couple of trips during the summer. Then we added the kids’ school holidays to our increased summer trips. By the fall of 1984 I owned a house on a channel five minutes from the Gulf of Mexico and my first offshore fishing boat. The following March my business partner, now also my fishing partner and I added another bigger boat. Soon I owned a business here too. The more frequent trips allowed me to visit Rod more often and purchase many more coins.
One day Bates called calf rope. He said I had to expand my horizons by buying from other dealers too. He introduced me to the greats of my time that dealt in Mexican coins. To me this showed Rod Bates “true grit”. He could have kept me under wraps and in the dark for many more years, but he chose to share. He was already a mentor for me. He taught me about the many styles. He taught me about how important coin auction catalogs were. He told me to travel to coin shows, both large and small, in order to meet other collectors and coin dealers. Now he was sharing the income he could make from me with other dealers. Yes, Rod Bates looks after his coin collecting customers like they are family members.
Bates claims to have returning customers that number in the hundreds, with some coming back for over forty years and two generations. And I thought I was an old customer of his. His longevity proves beyond a doubt he is doing something right. Rod practices the Bates Rare Coin Theory on a daily basis.
He spends countless hours of his time looking at old maps. I mean really old maps. Just trying to figure our where water might have collected a 100 years or more ago. He buys aerial photographs of the wilderness, both from here and Mexico. Then he spends more hours of his time just looking at them. He says he is searching for signs of old trails and campsites adjacent to these trails. Once he pinpoints a likely campsite off he goes with shovel, metal detector, his earmuffs, and that blooming light he wears on his head. You know what he’s going to do? Dig. And after he rests a while he will dig some more. Yea, Rod Bates is a digger; I don’t care what he says.
Have you got the picture yet? If Rod can’t quote you your answer off the top of his head, he owns the book with the information and he can find it in the blink of an eye. That is, if he can find the book. Rod’s talents as a historian are in great demand. He shares with one and all. He lectures. Rod guides others to sites they are looking for, but can’t find because they aren’t where they are supposed to be. Bates teaches.
But more importantly he listens. He talks to the old timers, both now and for many years earlier. He reads the old timers’ memoirs and their old letters that many times cross his path. Bates doesn’t have an advanced degree in history or anthropology, but he has spent years in the field, far a field looking for and listening to what the earth and people can tell him about days gone by. Yes, Rod Bates is a historian, and a darn good one at that who specializes in all areas and eras of Texas and Mexico.
Rod and other historians have created a monthly lecture series, Telling Our Stories, for the museums about local history. Recently these lectures have covered such diverse subjects as: how the shrimp industry began in the area, building Fort Polk in Point Isabel, the heroes who fought Cortina in The Battle for Brownsville among many other subjects. During these informative presentations history comes alive to the listeners, old and young alike.
Bates isn’t one of those people who just writes a check, either large or small, and then walks away to fill out his federal income tax form for his donation. No, Bates does much more. Rod donates his time and resources to the Museums of Port Isabel, plus many historical items from his private collections. Have you ever seen a Texas Battalion Battle Flag? We have one. Have you ever seen the uniform worn by a Mexican Republic Lancer during Santa Anna’s war with Texas in 1836? We have one. Have you ever seen a US Dragons I.D. Disc? We have one. Have you ever seen a Zachary Taylor Election Bandana? We have one.
All of these hard to find items have one thing in common; each one is a small part of the personal collection of Rod & Valerie Bates that is on loan to the Museums of Port Isabel. Yes, Rod Bates is a museum patron extraordinaire.
I yelled, “Hey Bates is that you? Have I got something to show you!”
I heard his chair creak as he stood up; this was in the days before slim Rod. He stumbled behind the counter with a perplexed look on his face; just like his finest hunt’n dog had choked on a chicken bone. Immediately I forgot about the coin.
“What’s wrong old buddy, did someone die?” I asked.
“No, I’m having a real problem with my new book. Valerie is tied up with her business and I can’t get the text right. Plus I need to type it into the computer so Valerie can fix it and get it printed before the coming celebration. That’s all that’s wrong.” He replied.
Wow! A whole flood of new information for my brain to process in a short order. I was at a loss for words momentarily, which doesn’t happen very often as you know.
“Rod what new book and what celebration are you talking about?” That’s when I found out about the Point Isabel Lighthouse Sesquicentennial and Rod’s book Fort Polk: Point Isabel’s American Roots. Let’s make this yarn sorta short, Rod was behind the 8 Ball, the festivities were scheduled to begin in less than a week and Rod didn’t have his helpmate, editor, proofreader, typist, and computer guru Valerie to help do all of the work while he ran the store. Valerie had been hire by the City of Port Isabel to see that all of the work and advertising was done leading up to the Sesquicentennial. Poor Rod.
That day I carted home Rod’s scribbles on his first draft and enlisted my helpmate to retype the book. Once she finished, I proofread it made a few changes and returned the book printed out. Rod and worked a couple of more days on it before he was satisfied and we gave Valerie a disk. The book was printed and it sold out the first printing quickly. Last time I asked Rod and he said he was sold out of its latest, the 6th printing.
But this isn’t the only writing endeavor for Rod Bates the writer, he has a weekly column in one of local newspapers that is always interesting reading. Yes, Rod Bates is a prolific author and writer.
Rod Bates, author, weekly newspaper columnist, husband, father, and a well-respected church going citizen lives with his wife Valerie and daughter Amber in Port Isabel Texas. He is also a top-notch fisherman, specializing in large Snook and Speckled Trout. And once upon a time, long ago, before reaching middle age he was a world-class surfer who personally traveled to all of the surfing hotspots in the US and Mexico.
[Home] Return to Mexican Coin Magic Home Page