If you press BB in the elevator of the New York Grand Hyatt located right next to Grand Central Station, you are taken directly to the floor with the promising name “ballroom”. On the entire floor, equipped with high ceilings and luxurious decorations, where the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC) took place, there was a touch of exclusivity and glamour in the air. Well, the NYINC is no run-of-the-mill coin show.
A Selected Audience Pays Off
That already became evident at the entrance area of the elegant hall. Visitors did not only have to pay the considerable price of $20 (however, that gave you access to the convention on all three days), they also received a name tag. And that was really useful. After all, there were a lot of collectors, scholars, authors and experts present – often all of that combined in a single person. Those name tags saved me: even though I usually struggle to remember faces and names, I was able to address by name many visitors whom I mainly knew via e-mail. I was extremely grateful!
However, this system only works because the event is not supposed to attract as many visitors as other events do. “Are there more or less visitors than last year?” Opinions among dealers differed regarding this question, but nobody was really interested in the answer anyway. They all agreed that the right visitors were present, that is, those that did not only look at the objects but bought them as well. Business was good, very good, excellent – that was the unanimous opinion of dealers with beaming faces. As a result, the mood was excellent, despite all the hustle and bustle.
Offers for Professionals: Auctions and Early Birds
Two elements prove that this convention is where professionals come together. The viewing for the official auctions, whose individual sessions were spread over the entire week, started on 10 January. Heritage, Spink, Classical Numismatic Group, The New York Sale (a collaboration of M&M Numismatics, Sovereign Rarities, Dmitry Markov and Ira & Larry Goldberg), Stack’s Bowers and Baldwin’s of St. James auctioned off selected gems, rarities and carefully assembled collections. Künker, for example, gave an insight into the Samel Collection, which will be on sale in the upcoming auction in March.
In addition to the auctions, there is a special offer for professionals every year: on Thursday, 16 January, Early Birds had privileged access to the fair in order to choose the best worms to pick. They did so eagerly, and the hall buzzed with activity. After all, everybody wanted to compensate for the $125 entry ticket by purchasing outstanding objects!
Chatting, Laughing and Buying
From 17 to 18 January the convention opened its gates to the general public. Those days offered a quieter setting, nevertheless, a lot of deals were made until the very last moment. And besides all the business, a fair – and the NYINC in particular – is also a welcome opportunity to meet colleagues and friends, establish new contacts and exchange ideas. About 115 dealers from the USA, France, Italy, Spain, Monaco, Great Britain (and, one is tempted to say, from all over the world) were present. At this convention, an international flair is guaranteed. See for yourself and have a look at our picture gallery.
Several associations and organisations also make use of this event for members’ meetings. There is no other place where you can gather colleagues from all over the world as easily as at this event in January.
In our report on the NYINC of 2019 you can see further pictures of the venue.
Find out more about the fair on the NYINC’s website.
There, you can also find the contact information of the organiser if you’re interested in a table for 2021. The NYINC will take place from 14 to 17 January 2021. You can contact the organiser Kevin Foley using the contact form on the NYINC website.
