Greg Bennick's latest interview for the Newman Numismatic Portal is with the current Senior Editor of the Redbook (A Guide Book of United States Coins), Jeff Garrett.
-Editor
GREG BENNICK
Hi everybody, it's Greg Bennick, and I am here today with Jeff Garrett. Jeff, of course, is from Mid
American Rare Coin Galleries, and is the senior editor of Red Book. And if you saw the first interview I
did with Jeff, you know it was filled with information and great stories, and I wanted to be back here
today with Jeff to talk about the Red Book and the Mega Red. So, Jeff, thanks for thanks for being here
today. I really appreciate it.
JEFF GARRETT
Well, thanks, Greg. Thanks for having me. And it's always fun to talk about the Red Book. It's a big part
of my life, and I enjoy sharing it.
GREG BENNICK
I'm so glad. Well, why don't we start with, why don't you tell me how you got involved with the Red
Book? How did that first come to be?
JEFF GARRETT
It's kind of an interesting story. So my first book that I was involved in that I came up with the idea for,
was 100 Greatest U.S. Coins, and that's 20 years ago now. It was probably, maybe even more than
that when I did that. I was working with Mary Burleson at Whitman…actually, I think it was even a
different company at the time. That book came out and was really popular. One thing they wanted in it
was pricing. At the time they wanted me to see if I could help Ken Bressett with his pricing, because the
whole coin business was kind of going through a transition. Ken Brissett and his son Phil were literally
doing pricing like on index cards and handwritten spreadsheets. They would handwrite them, send
them in, and it really needed to be modernized a lot. Ken is brilliant with coins, but he's not really a
trader. I've always been a high-level trader. I've been involved with everything from colonial coins to
basically everything from the front of the Red Book to the back of the Red Book. I buy and sell, so I
have a really good market feel. I started helping Ken with his pricing. At first I was mostly doing gold
coins, because at the time they also gave me the approval to do the Encyclopedia of United States
Gold Coins. I started working on that, and then over time I took more and more of that responsibility of
pricing. In 2019 Ken was about 90-ish, and decided he was really going to officially retire, so that's
that's when I became the Senior Editor of Red Book. It is a huge honor, because that's the bible of
numismatics. I really enjoy doing it, and it's a big part of my life.
GREG BENNICK
It's wonderful, and you're perfect for it, because when people open or look to the Red Book, they look to
answer two questions: What is this, and what is it worth? So, identification of the coin is one thing, but
your expertise is an encyclopedic knowledge of grading and value. So, you're the perfect person for
that position. I'm so glad you're there.
JEFF GARRETT
Yeah, that's been really a great transition. More recently, two or three years ago, John Feigenbaum
purchased Whitman Publishing from the Anderson family, and that's been a really great transition. I
love the Anderson family and they were great. All the people I dealt with were wonderful, but they had a
little bit different business view. The Red Book was a really wonderful, iconic thing, and they didn't like
to make changes. They were like, okay maybe next year we'll do something different, and so the book
in my mind could have been better.
It would take some risk. To make progress, you have to be willing to break things occasionally, to make
them better. The only thing I made them do is I made them promise to keep it red!
GREG BENNICK
That's great, and John's perfect for that, right? It's two things at once: it's the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it,"
but also "let's break it a bit and make and take some risks and improve where we can." So that's a
perfect combination,
JEFF GARRETT
That's how things get better. I'm very proud of the Red Book now, because I think every year I can
spend more time on content which I really enjoy. Much rather write an article about something
interesting about coins than figure out the pricing for silver dollars for two days, so it makes it makes it
more fun. It has been a good mix, and I've really enjoyed it.
GREG BENNICK
That's great. Well, let's talk about the Mega Red. Tell us what the Mega Red is and what it offers versus
the Red Book, and then where the current 10th edition stands?
JEFF GARRETT
That's really an interesting thing to talk about, because I was not around for the birth of the Red Book, I
was still not born for about 10 years or so. It started in 1947 and I wasn't around for that. It obviously is
an iconic brand, fabulous, and is still a wonderful book. I was around though for the birth of the Mega
Red.
At one time, Mary Burleson, who I mentioned before, ran things for the Whitman publishing empire. She
asked me, "If you could like do the Red Book any way you wanted to, what kind of changes would you
make, and what would you do?"
We thought about it, and I said, "Well, if we could do it, I would add more grading columns that would
be for proof coins. You wouldn't start in 1858. You'd go all the way back. You would do more varieties.
She really liked that idea. I kept pushing for change in the Red Book. They would say that they maybe
were not going to do that, but that they would do something. They suggested that they could do it as a
different book.
When it first came out, it was actually called The Professional Red Book…Red Book Professional
Edition. I have a copy of it somewhere in my library. I think that was well over ten years ago. But then
we started asking what we could do with what became the Mega Red?
Another reason that the book came into being was Dave Bowers. He is one of the most prolific authors
of all time. He has a lot of specialty series in almost everything. He's created this amazing amount of
content. They were able to take a lot of that content and put it into one book. It was really an
amalgamation of a lot of the content that they were already creating for specialty series, but it was able
to be put into one book. Now it's aimed for everyone who just really wants to take a deeper dive into
coins and have one book that's super comprehensive. I think it's the most comprehensive book on US
coinage that's ever existed.
GREG BENNICK
It's astounding. If people haven't seen the book, I recommend going to a coin store, a coin show,
finding a copy, just to look at it. I mean, it's like a cinder block of coins. It is huge.
JEFF GARRETT
There's poundage involved. It's 1075 pages. This is the newest edition, the Mega Red 10, and it's over
1075 pages packed with a lot of that content that Whitman produces. It's kind of condensed into one
book.
GREG BENNICK
Fantastic, I love it. Where's the easiest place for people to find it? I'm sure that it's available
everywhere.
JEFF GARRETT
You know, I was really surprised the other day that a big percentage of Whitman materials are sold on
Amazon, so really easy to get it on Amazon. Whitman has their own website, and of course, all a lot of
coin shops carry it, and then also supply dealers would carry it. The only thing about a coin show and
dealers is that the book is so heavy, they might not bring many copies. I'd say probably getting on
Amazon is probably the easiest access to it,
GREG BENNICK
I think it's important to note that this is a book that is incredible, both for advanced collectors, and
professionals…but also new collectors would benefit wildly from the Mega Red, and the Red Book, of
course, but the Mega Red has so much information. It kind of takes you from beginner to certainly
advanced beginner, and more, and beyond, if you put in the time to read it.
JEFF GARRETT
Each time we come out with a new edition – and this is the 10th edition - what we'll do is pick a
denomination and take a deeper dive into that denomination. This year for the Mega Red 10, it's for half
eagles. I had written some special articles about half eagles that are in here. John Dannreuther and I
worked on die varieties for early half eagles. There's a section on how to collect branch mint gold. A lot
of half eagles are in that so it's a good chance to find out more about one specialty series.
But no matter what you collect, there'll be more information in this book than then you would get in a
Red Book, or some other standard reference. It's also packed with photographs, and as I mentioned
earlier, a lot of people love dive varieties and cherry picking and stuff like that, so there's a whole lot of
that. There's way more of that information in the Mega Red there is in the Red Book.
GREG BENNICK
Great. Well, I'm really happy that we had a chance to talk today and tell people about it. I think this is a
great opportunity for people to add that to their library and dive in and learn a lot more about
numismatics overall.
JEFF GARRETT
You know, if you're a collector of Red Book stuff, there's also a beautiful hardbound edition that's really
pretty cool. I've got one of these here. It's not just a book, it's actually a collectible. Buy this one for your
desk to flip through, and buy one of these to put in your permanent library, and don't touch it, because
these are collectibles.
GREG BENNICK
That's great. I think I might do exactly that myself. That sounds like a great idea. Well, thanks so much
for taking some time and speaking today with me and with everybody about the Mega Red.
JEFF GARRETT
Well, thanks for your interest in it. And if anybody's at a coin show and happens to have one, come by
and I'll be happy to sign one for them.
GREG BENNICK
Oh, that's a great opportunity! Everybody, if you've not seen Jeff's interview, be sure to check out the
Newman Numismatic Portal page, where all my interviews are. My full interview with Jeff is there, along
with many others. So, Jeff, thank you for being here today, and I'm sure we'll talk soon.
