Floyd Rockholt isn’t a County native, but for over three decades he’s paid his dues and has become a staple in the community. He’s a volunteer, a businessman and above all the Star City’s number-one collector.
In his mid-teens he was transplanted from Boston to Presque Isle, where he finished high school. Around the same time he was bitten by the collecting bug and his numberone vice became stamps. While a junior in high school he already had tens of thousands of stamps in his collection. Bursting at the seams with duplicates, he looked for a way to turn a profit from his hobby. While other County kids were working the fields during the potato harvest break, Rockholt was back in Beantown hawking stamps at collectible shows.
After high school, Rockholt only meant to take a year off before entering college to see if selling stamps full time would pay off, but fast forward 35 years later, and his business, Eagle Hill Stamps and Coins, has found a home on Main Street in Presque Isle.
“I always tell kids it was a mistake I took a year off because I never went back,” Rockholt said with a laugh.
His shop has slowly moved south where it finally settled on the corner of Main and Chapman streets, where it’s been for quite some time.
Initially Rockholt thought he could get by just selling stamps, but he quickly realized he’d have to expand his collection to coins, comics and cards.
He said he used to do a lot of business with servicemen and women, but after Loring Air Force base closed in the 1990s, his bread and butter become trading cards.
Over the years, The County has been hemorrhaging collectors, according to Rockholt, who said that just this year almost a dozen of his loyal customers have moved out of the area. It’s the relationships he’s built with those who’ve remained that have kept him in business.
“If you’re fair to your customers they’ll come back and keep doing business with you,” he said.
In the early days of his business, he joined the local chamber of commerce and then came an invite from a fellow local businessman to join the Rotary Club. He’s since put in over 20 years with both organizations helping his community.
“I always say my grandparents were the ones who raised me; they always taught me I should give back to the community,” he said.
To operate his business, Rockholt has had to retain years of history and have the ability to talk the collector’s talk.
“Collecting is like a language. You just pick up the knowledge as you’re going along,” he said.
Rockholt has helped countless people with their collections since the 1980s, which means he’s had to put his own collection on the back burner, but he said there’s nothing he’d rather be doing than selling collectibles.
“My business ruined my hobby, but my hobby became my business, so I do enjoy what I’m doing,” he said.
