KEN BRESSETT INTERVIEW, PART ONE

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 22, 2026, Article 17

Greg Bennick's latest interview for the Newman Numismatic Portal is with "Mr. Redbook". Ken Bressett. Here's the first of six parts, where Ken discusses early collecting years, his childhood discoveries, Ovaltine foreign coins, and his first encounters with numismatic literature and R.S. Yeoman. -Editor

From Ovaltine to the Red Book: The Early Numismatic Journey of Ken Bressett

This is Greg Bennick with the Newman Numismatic Portal. I have the honor today of interviewing Ken Bressett. Ken is a numismatic author, researcher, hero, legend, and incredibly nice person. It is an honor to have this opportunity to interview Ken and help to share more of his history and experiences with the numismatic community.

GREG BENNICK: Let's just start with how you got into coins. Where did it all begin for Ken back in the day?

Ken Bressett and the Early Days of NENA News 1

KEN BRESSETT: I think it began around 1934. I don't know why, but I just took a liking to collecting old coins. Now at that time, youngsters, we collected everything from bugs to matchsticks, anything that we could collect and trade with each other and just have fun. I was like that, but I just happened to like coins. And, I remember getting—I don't know where I found it—one of those catalogs from B. Max Mehl. I was just fascinated because that had so much information in it about coins. I started to do most of my trading with others for Indian cents and things like that. They were very popular back then. I could find Indian cents in change or ask people if they had any because I was collecting them, or thinking I was. (laughs) I was a kid, but I thought I was a good collector. And that's sort of how I got started.

In 1936, the Ovaltine company, which was a food supplement, was sponsoring Little Orphan Annie, and they were running a promotion. In 1936, if you sent in box tops from these cans of Ovaltine, you could get a foreign coin. I think there were maybe eight different countries. I made sure I got all of them. And I still have them. And that's sort of how I began collecting.

GREG BENNICK: So, you have coins from back when you first started collecting still in your collection?

KEN BRESSETT: Yep! Yep. Of course, over the years I've bought and sold many things. Not as a real dealer, but because that's what you do if you don't have enough money to own everything. You buy something, you own it, you enjoy it, and then you sell it and use the money to buy something else.

GREG BENNICK: Exactly. Well, here's the thing about interviewing you that's different than many other people. Many other people have a specialty. They have one area where they've shined. You have so many areas where you shine. So it's like on one hand I want to ask you about coin collecting, on the other hand I want to ask you about books and how you got into coin books. So maybe if it seems like I go in a number of different directions, it's only because you're so widely diverse. But what were your first coin books? How did your connection to coin and numismatic literature come about?

KEN BRESSETT: Well, as I said, the B. Max Mehl catalog was probably the first. And then there were two or three others. There were some collector books. There were some articles that I was able to read, and I early on got a subscription to Numismatic Scrapbook magazine. Got a lot of information out of that. And these were the days before the Red Book was made.

KEN BRESSETT: So it was very difficult to get a hold on these things. But early on I got the first edition of the Red Book. And I thought that was just marvelous. I couldn't stop reading that from beginning to end. But before that, there was the Blue Book, you know, the dealer buying prices. So I took this thing seriously and just wanted to know about all kinds of coins and money.

And I still do today. This latest ANA Summer Seminar, I thought was wonderful. The quality of the teachers and the students I think surpassed anything previous. I was learning every day something new in a new class, because people specialize today and, where I cover such a broad field—I really, really do, from A to Z—I have an interest. I just maintained that thirst for knowledge throughout all these years.

GREG BENNICK: I love it. Is there any particular area that you gravitate to in coins more than others after all these years?

KEN BRESSETT: Yes. I'll tell you the reasons why, but the short answer is ancient Greek silver coins. That's my great love and has been for many years. You might think that United States coins should be my main interest because I had to learn over the years everything that I could about United States coins. But working with R.S. Yeoman, the author of The Red Book, we had a pact that because we were setting the prices of these coins, we would not collect United States coins. I followed that dictum ever since.

GREG BENNICK: I absolutely would have expected that you would have said, "Oh yeah, Standing Liberty quarters," or "Oh, sure, Barber dimes." But that makes sense in a way because it would have been a conflict of interest.

KEN BRESSETT: Exactly. And while we never would have made it a conflict of interest, just the appearance—we did not want to have that appearance that it might be a conflict.

GREG BENNICK: That makes sense. And so just because you mentioned Yeoman, what could you tell me about him? Of course, I know the name, but I never met the man. What could you tell me about him and what your first encounter was with him?

KEN BRESSETT: Well, because I was an early reader of The Red Book and The Blue Book, I was anxious to meet him. When I was old enough in my teens and a driver, I could go to conventions, local coin shows and conventions and things like that. So at one meeting, I happened to run into R.S. Yeoman. I thought that was just wonderful. And we chatted for a while and I said, "Yes, I really like your books. However, you've got a few mistakes in there. Do you know that?" I was really quite almost embarrassed to say that, but he said, "Well, tell me about it!" And I said, "I tell you what I'll do. I'll go home and I'll write up my findings and some things I think aren't genuine or are misplaced or not correct and I'll send that to you." And he said, "Yes, please do that."

So I discussed this with my wife, and as I was preparing this at home, I said, "You know what? If I just send that to him, he's going to appreciate it and all that. But he's asked me for it. I think I'm going to charge him something for it—for the work. In fact, I think I'm going to charge him $100." And my wife said, "You nuts or something? He's never going to pay you $100." I said, "He won't respect it if I don't do that." And that's just what happened. I got my $100 and he asked me to do it again the next year for the next edition, which I did. About the third time around, he said, "Why don't you come to work for me?" And that was how we got started.

He's been a wonderful person to know and to have worked with. He was an absolute marketing genius. He knew where the market was, how to run things, what to do next, what not to do. A gentleman all the way, all the time. I just thoroughly enjoyed him the many, many years that I worked for him and knew him.

GREG BENNICK: I love this story. I love it. It makes me want to find mistakes in books and write to the authors and editors and offer to correct their mistakes for $100 and see if I can start a whole new career.

GREG BENNICK: So, you mentioned Max Mehl and his catalogs. Did you ever meet him personally?

KEN BRESSETT: Yes, I did. He was a fascinating character. Very short, almost gruff-looking, but a real gentleman and very courteous and likable. I don't think he was much of a numismatist. I mean, he was a businessman, but I never thought that he knew an awful lot about coins. We had several conversations. If we met at a coin show, we always sat and talked for a little bit. I think we just were good, good friends.

GREG BENNICK: So his marketing genius around the 1913 Liberty Nickel and putting out his advertisement saying, "I'll pay $X for this coin," knowing that he wasn't going to get one, but that he would get other coins instead. Your suggestion is that this was more business-motivated than it was numismatically motivated for the love of the coins themselves or the aesthetics about them. He was just, he was a clever and creative businessman.

GREG BENNICK: It's really interesting. So, okay, so that puts us, you know, jumping all over the map a little bit. When did you join the ANA and when did you join the ANS? Because I know that you've been longtime members of both organizations.

KEN BRESSETT: I joined the ANA in 1947. And then the ANS, I joined in 1954. So I've been members for a long time. In fact, I think I'm probably the longest active member in each of those—ANA and the ANS—and in the Canadian Numismatic Association. I joined them in 1950 and I'm the longest active member there also.

KEN BRESSETT: And there are older people than I in each of those organizations, but I've been there and active for longer than anybody else.

KEN BRESSETT: I got to meet all of the people that you've known along the way. I've known and associated with them.

GREG BENNICK: It's brilliant. And it's interesting now knowing your affinity for ancient Greek silver coins, why the ANS connection is so strong for you.

KEN BRESSETT: Oh, yes. Yes. But I've always been involved with a lot of other branches too. I know that you're interested in error coins. I have been also, as a matter of fact, involved in the Numismatic Error Collectors?

GREG BENNICK: Absolutely. Well, that's wonderful. I didn't realize you had that connection to the error hobby. It makes me very happy to hear because errors certainly have been my joy for the last four decades. So I'm very happy always to hear about people interested in them.

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 and US counterstamps. He is on the board of both CONECA and TAMS and enjoys having in-depth conversations with prominent numismatists from all areas of the hobby. Have ideas for other interviewees? Contact him anytime via instagram @minterrors. He can also be reached by email at minterrors@gmail.com.