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Franklin Mint
The Franklin Mint is a private corporation based in Aston, Pennsylvania which markets "collectibles" of its own designs. It was founded by Joseph Segel. more...
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The company started by marketing privately-minted gold and silver commemorative rounds and medallions, but quickly branched out into other collectibles. In the 1960s the price of silver rose, causing all silver coins to be removed from circulation. The Nevada casinos used silver dollars in their slot machines, which were soon worth more than a dollar. The Franklin Mint was one of the earliest and largest minters of replacement slot machine tokens.
It minted in its own production facility numerous sets of theme-based silver medals and ingots, selling them on the subscription plan, with buyers getting a monthly shipment and invoice. Presidents and States were the two most numerous types of sets, with Space and Important Persons and other topics popular. Sets were limited to the number of subscribers by a cut-off date, resulting in 'limited editions'. Prices were fairly reasonable, compared to the cost of silver, and often tens of thousands of sets were sold. Custom wood cases, fancy packaging and certificates appealed to collectors, and the market boomed. However, silver prices climbed, making the cost of larger items high, and replacement bronze and pewter issues did not appeal to collectors as much.
Later the Franklin Mint entered the die-cast car market, producing numerous designs including the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, one of Franklin Mint's better-selling models. Collector knives, ceramic figurines, statues, plates, Monopoly sets, chess sets and board games, plaques and other collectables were issued, most in 'limited-editions'.
The Franklin Mint was heavily reliant upon direct mail and media print ads for sales. Ads for Franklin Mint collectibles - including the Civil War Commemorative Chess Set among thousands of other items - were once ubiquitous in popular magazines.
Currently the Franklin Mint has divested itself of minting capacity, and has downsized, and is now mostly a producer/marketer of diecast models. On October 17, 2006 the Franklin Mint announced it was sold by Roll International Corp to a number of private investors including M. Moshe Malamud & Steven Sisskind, chairman and chief exectutive respectively from The Morgan Mint and David Salzman a hollywood producer. The sale closed on August 31, 2006 and no price was announced. The new ownership plans to return Franklin Mint to its former market-leading status.
Many Franklin Mint products are movie, television and celebrity themed, for example china plates featuring images of Star Trek characters.
Resources
Guidebook of Franklin Mint Issues by Chester L. Krause, Krause Publications (various editions, 1978). This book lists all issues of the Mint, with mintages, original price and then current retail value. The Franklin Mint also issued annual printed lists of items issued that year in The Franklin Mint Almanac. All are out of print.;
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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