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Ask 24-year-old Eric Lindholm how he ventured his way into numismatics a decade ago, and he would tell you it was all about the algorithms. “I was 14 years old when I saw a YouTube video titled something to the effect of ‘$200 Error Penny You Can Find in Circulation.’ My curiosity caused me to click on it and learn about the various die varieties and mint errors produced on cents.”
Lindholm learned about valuable oddities like the 1955 and 1969-S Doubled Die Lincoln Cents as well as the 1998, 1999, and 2000 Wide AM Lincoln Cent varieties and asked his mom to get him to a bank where he could buy rolls of one-cent coins and begin his search. “Eventually, I was buying two heavy $25 boxes at banks within biking distance and lugging the coins home in a backpack. I was obsessed with looking for rare die varieties and kept a spreadsheet of my finds.” He adds, “I never found a holy grail error coin, but instead discovered my passion for coins as a whole.”
Lindholm eventually landed a 1903 Indian Cent he estimated was a G4 example from a machine- wrapped roll – the only Indian Cent from among 65,000 coins he searched. The coin spurred his interest in becoming a coin dealer. “It sparked my curiosity to buy a ‘Red Book’ [A Guide Book of United States Coins] and analyze the Indian Cent series.” Noticing the differences in value between the relatively scarce 1864 Bronze L on Ribbon (with the initial for coin designer James Longacre) and more common 1864 Bronze No L Indian Cents. “I went on eBay and cherrypicked a corroded VF 1864 L that was advertised as just a regular 1864 bronze.” He resold the coin on eBay, netting $15.05 after all fees associated with the sale of his coin. “After realizing I could use knowledge to make real money, there was no looking back. My fledgling coin dealing career had begun.”
He began attending coin shows as a vest pocket dealer who focused on cherrypicking and selling die varieties and eventually expanded into toned coins, all the while building a client list and learning more and more about the industry. “Now being postgrad and [dealing in] coins full time, I’ve started setting up at certain major shows and traveling the national show circuit regularly. I’ve been doing coins as my full-time job for over two years now.”
Enjoying the personal freedom, opportunities to interact and engage with all kinds of people, and the financial potential of being a coin dealer, Lindholm believes “coin dealing is one of the greatest jobs you can have if you can tolerate a certain level of risk taking and stress while loving to learn and interacting with people.” He’s learned to ride the waves of the market, including the undulations of the bullion market and the ripples caused by the end of production for circulating “pennies” – a coin near and dear to his heart.
“It’s interesting how the circle of life played out for the cent and how its status in American commerce evolved into it now being a defunct symbol of the past that the government eliminated for cost-efficiency reasons,” he remarks. “I’m sure some data will show whether cents will gain more popularity in the years to come. I would certainly be all for it!”