The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 40, September 18, 2005, Article 12

THE NEW YORK METROPOLITAN SHOW

In last week's issue I mentioned the February 27, 1993
bomb attack at the World Trade Center in New York
A reader writes: " This event had a numismatic connection.
The bomb was placed in a rented truck, which had been
positioned in the underground parking lot of the Vista Hotel,
part of the World Trade Center complex. The explosion
created a large hole in the floor of one of the hotel's meeting
rooms. The Metropolitan Coin Show was scheduled to
be in that room one week later. If the bomb had exploded
during the show, much of the room's contents would have
disappeared into the abyss. As you might expect, the
show was canceled.

The Metropolitan Coin Show had been an annual event in
New York for many years. The Vista Hotel had been its
location for several years prior to the bombing. The show
was a joint effort of many New York area coin clubs. These
clubs were located in Long Island, Westchester and Putnam
Counties, and northern New Jersey. Thus the name 'Metropolitan'.
Volunteers from these clubs got together to run the show each
year. I was very friendly with one of the show's officials during
the eighties and nineties. He gave me a couple of programs for
the show that was canceled.

Unfortunately, the Metropolitan Show was never resurrected
after the bombing. Efforts to revive it in subsequent years
proved futile. In recent decades, New York has not been a
good place for shows. The only annual show that has been
staged without interruption during that time is the New York
International show, which now runs in January. This show used
the mezzanine level of one of the World Trade Center towers
for the two winter events prior to September, 2001. The reason
this show didn't meet with the same fate as the Metropolitan
Show is probably because the bourse chairman, Kevin Foley,
has an uncanny ability to get high priced hotels to quote bargain
rates. Some people think he hypnotizes them. The International
Show has been held in the Waldorf Astoria since January, 2002."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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