January 11-12, 2007: The NYINC Show in NewYork, NY

This one was really different.

First of all, it was held at the Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue on the 18th floor on something called the ‘Starlight Roof’, a setting perhaps better suited for a fancy wedding reception in a movie starring Audrey Hepburn. It was a formal, and frankly elegant coin show, which surely must test the limits of the word oxymoron.

Actually the bourse was held in a series of rooms, a few of which we didn’t find for 2 full days (seriously – we had no idea they were there), but the largest room was hard to miss. It was home to some 50 or so dealers and a large and enthusiastic crowd which spent most of the time jostling (politely) to get a peek into the various dealer cases.

And the dealers certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves – mostly wearing ties and looking terrific – as they sold coins to buyers more eager than I can recall seeing at most any show, anywhere.

Speaking of eagerness, it was also on display at the auction of ANS gold duplicates. 101 lots beautifully presented in another outstanding Stack’s catalog brought some incredibly high prices that may have had more to do with supporting the venerable ANS than the current market value of the coins. Alas, we didn’t participate since we sort of expected that kind of result.

We also didn’t set up at the show since world coins are not our primary focus, and the rule here is that only foreign coins can be displayed. Seriously. So instead we walked the floor like a couple of regular old coin collectors looking for cool things to buy and we were pretty successful in that regard.

In general, attending International shows is really a blast for us. We have no preconceived notions, no specific agenda, no urgent business to conduct. We just 1) Look for interesting and special things that we like and that we think our clients will enjoy and 2) Buy them. Its an uncomplicated two-step process.

We left with about 10 coins, sold a few on behalf of a client and really enjoyed the couple of days.

In conclusion, if you are ever able to attend this event we’d highly recommend it.

Our next show is in Long Beach, which promises to be interesting, though surely without the style-quotient of the NYINC.