Greg Bennick: So, let's shift gears a little bit and talk about Bonanza, and what it's beenlike owning a coin store over the years. I know you mentioned that the auctions themselves havechanged quite a bit over the years, from the dynamic of having people in the room screaming andyelling. What's owning a coin store been like over the years, with the rise of the internet and - Idon't want to lead the question too much, but tell me what owning Bonanza has been like over thelast half-century or so.

Julian Leidman: Well, I started dealing coins full-time in 1965. And at the time, Al and his fatherhad started Bonanza, and they moved Bonanza to downtown Silver Springs. And then Al graduatedMaryland, and I flunked out at the same time. And so, I would hang around his coin store all thetime. Eventually, he let me put a desk in the back room, and telephone and stuff like that. But hedidn't retire until 1991, and I then said, well, I can't retire, so I said, let me take over Bonanza.And we made an agreement, and I moved it around the corner to where it was. It was on a mainstreet in Silver Springs, Georgia Avenue, and I moved it around the corner on Wayne Avenue.Right now, it's half a block away from where it was. But Bonanza started back in the 60s, and it'sstill going into the 20s. So, it's been very enjoyable.

You know, I was not an early proponent of standardized encapsulated grading, because I thoughtthere was more to a coin than just a number. And so, I didn't have very much of that. People wouldcome in the store, they would buy coins. Al was really involved with coins his whole professionallife. He's incidentally living in Delaware now, and we're very, very close friends. He would do alot. At the time, back in the 60s, there were vest pocket dealers coming in, there was a lot ofwheeling and dealing all over the place. There were bid boards in places. Bonanza never had a bidboard, but he would do a lot of wholesale business and stuff like that. And I tried, but as thestandardized grading came more into effect, there were less and less dealers, because there wasn'tas much opinion involved anymore in the rarity and the condition.

Of course, I would disagree with grades I saw, and I never really got involved with it until MilesStandish visited me once from PCGS. And he said, 'Listen, you gotta start doing this.' And this isin the late 90s. So, we took a bunch of coins and got them encapsulated. That's where I started withit. And right now, all of my listings on the internet are all either encapsulated or inexpensive, anddon't need to be encapsulated. Things have definitely changed. Bonanza today, I mean, I have thestore, and people come in and they occasionally buy coins. I used to have many more showcasesthan I have now. And as people were bringing stuff in, and I was buying it, I was never selling asmuch. And so, I had to rearrange things, and put new racks up there so I can store coins. And ofcourse, encapsulated coins take even more room than a coin in a tube.

So, now I have just a few showcases, where I used to have eight or 10. And people come in, andthey ask, and I say I don't have a lot on display, but let me find you what you need. And I do thatsometimes, but less and less people are coming into the store to buy coins, and more and morepeople are coming into the store to sell coins. And normally, I would work every day, Mondaythrough Friday like everybody else, and I'd come in Saturday afternoons, and I'd come in Sundayafternoons. Now, I was supposed to talk to you today from my store, but I was at a show lastweekend, I just slept late this morning, so I didn't go into the store today. But it's the first in a longtime where if I'm healthy, I go into the store.

About the Interviewer
Greg Bennick (www.gregbennick.com) is a keynote speaker and long time coin collector with a focus on major mint error coins. Have ideas for other interviewees? Contact him anytime on the web or via instagram @minterrors.

To watch the complete video, see:
Julian Leidman Interview(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/626691)

To read the complete transcript, see:
Julian Leidman Interview (Transcript)(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/626692)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
JULIAN LEIDMAN INTERVIEW, PART ONE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n20a07.html)
JULIAN LEIDMAN INTERVIEW, PART TWO(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n21a19.html)
JULIAN LEIDMAN INTERVIEW, PART THREE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n21a20.html)