If I'm there for one day, which have the "must see" tables in your opinion? Assume I am interested in all areas of ancient numismatics.
The list of dealers is at https://www.nyinc.info/dealers.php. I've bought from a number of them, although some are known more as auction houses and I'm not sure whether they're going to be selling at retail at their tables, or just advertising their auctions. And of course some of the retail dealers are known to be more expensive than others, like Shanna Schmidt (the daughter of HJB, I think), who hasn't met a coin for which she won't ask $1,000+. But that's what comparison shopping is for. I've bought ancient coins at retail from Agora (I think), A.H. Baldwin's (expensive), Harlan J. Berk. CGB France, Keith Candiotti (at the last NYINC), CNG (Classical Numismatic Group), Martina Dieterle (I think), Herakles, Pars, Dmitrly Markov, Stack's-Bowers (which is primarily auctions), and Zuzim. I bought from Ed Waddell on one occasion (very expensive!), but someone said he's not coming, although he's still listed. As is, the list looks smaller to me than it did when I checked it a couple of months ago. The Time Machine looks familiar, but I can't swear I've bought from them.
Even though I won't be attending I found several who have tables at this years event. Alphabetically they are: Stephen Album Allen Berman CNG CRO Fritz Kuenker Schulman Karl Stephens With New York being a Hot Spot, it could be touch and go for Kuenker and Schulman since they are from Europe. Regardless who your favorite dealer is, I would contact them to see if they're attending.
I bought British and other world coins from Karl Stephens 30-35 years ago! I guess I don't think of them as an ancients dealer, but I could obviously be wrong.
The dealer list seems light this year. Not surprising, all things considered. I'm not attending this time but I typically hit the wholesalers and 'down market' dealers first. Piles and bins always catch my eye. Palmyra Heritage often has good bulk deals (their table may be closed on Saturday for religious reasons), as does Educational Coin. Steve Album's table is always crowded (for good reason).
I remember seeing Educational Coin somewhere. Their booth was unreal. They had piles and piles of coins. They must have had 50,000 coins if not more. The table was packed with customers. I actually couldn't figure out how or what exactly they were selling; it looked kinda like they were selling in bulk by the bag.
The last time I dealt with them was at NYINC in the Waldorf days. As you note, they had bulk material bagged like with like, ancient to modern. If you get the right employee at the right time, they may let you cherry-pick. The more you spend, the friendlier most wholesalers will be. I've had some amazing deals from Educational over the years!
Yes, Education Coin Co. is great, always my favorite table there. Absolutely enormous selection, with some great quality. For their Roman coins, they generally have bags full of coins, all unattributed, sorted by ruler. Each bag has coins of only one ruler, and every coin in the bag is the same price. For more popular rulers, they’ll have multiple bags with different prices based on quality (i.e.- one bag of Trajan denarii for $65 each, another for $85 each, another for $125 each, etc.). Always fun to pick through the bags and look for a hidden gem, and I also always enjoy just seeing so many different types of the same ruler right in front of me. At the last NYINC show in 2020, I found these 3 beauties there (Tacitus, Herennia Etruscilla, and Otacilia Severa), and ended up spending about half of the price I would have paid if I had bought them at auction…well worth digging through the bags.
I think this year you could see quite a few dealers in one day because crowd density will be lighter. Quite a bit depends on your collecting area, because many of the NYINC dealers are rather specialized, especially as to grading & price point. Also, although I do not see quite as many on this year's list, there are World coin specialists who do not display Ancients, and it is usually pretty obvious from walking past whether a dealer is so specialized that it's not worth a close look. Dealers with, say, all trays of Russian gold won't have any "$200" ancients in the back. There are definitely "tiers" at which dealers wish to present themselves. No point in asking for the "junk box" at most tables. I noticed that several dealers who often have a good amount of lower-priced selections are not on this year's roster. Personally, I am not a fan of offerings in bags regardless of price point; they may be commodities to the dealer but the coins are being damaged. I personally also do not spend much time at bulk dealers because space is at a premium at NYINC and so the more specialized dealers bring really top-notch material. I know quite a few of the Ancient dealers, but for today I will shout out Vilmar Numismatics/Dr Constantin Marinescu and Dr Martina Dieterle as extremely knowledgeable folks and Herakles/Perry Siegel is a really nice guy; they have relatively light internet presences. Two people I don't have good feelings about are not on the roster. The auction houses usually do not offer many coins at the bourse, and CNG announced they are staffing lightly on-site to protect auction functionality. So, go and have fun, it may be a great year to talk more.
In the 2020 NYINC, I bought coins from Herb Kreindler (B&H Kreindler), Gorney & Mosch, Sovereign Rarities, and CNG. I'm extremely happy with the coins I acquired with these firms so I would return to them first. I would also note that more than half of the few coins I bought at that time, I had seen on-line earlier but bypassed for one reason or another. When the coins appeared to me in hand, I saw qualities that were not apparent in the on-line photos, plus I was able to negotiate much more reasonable prices.
This is one of the main draws of a show for me, getting the chance at coins that are not available on the internet. Also, having the chance to see other material that I don't take time to explore otherwise. I probably would take a look at the Russian coin dealer's cases and try to learn something; hopefully without annoying him or her by not really intending to buy anything.
I usually find something to buy from Berman, but it can be a long wait just to get to his table! And then rummage through many boxes. But he’s a great dealer. I’ll usually find something at Wolfshead as well, as he stocks the material I collect.
