PCGS now grading Franklin Mint products
AUandAG
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What is your thoughts? Will you be getting PCGS to grade them? Will the value be there once graded to pay the grading fees, etc? Right now these "rounds" from the FM are selling, plus or minus, $30 each raw in their capsules. What are your thoughts? I have a book of the 50 states (from 1976) and am thinking should I do it or not.
bob 
example:
Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
5
Comments
That's good news. I'm not sure it's worth slabbing them, but maybe collector interest will increase.
The FM produced a lot of collectable flotsam and jetsam, but the production quality was always superb.
Yes, they were well produced. Too bad they are not still making stuff. Personally I see that my book of State medals would all be 69's or better (I can't distinguish between 69 and 70). As I recall I paid about $500 for the book and certainly have room for grading fees without being upside down. But, I wonder how they will sell and at what premium.. Especially if they are such quality. Not like a Morgan dollar condition wise.
bob
FM contacted me about 2 years ago to sell my error coins thru their new hype site.
The company was bought out by a venture firm that "invests" in distressed names.
They no longer produce coinage.
I looked at the website and at the time FM was selling guitar picks made from state quarters
I declined to work with them.
Do the medals bring enough above melt to justify the considerable expense of having them slabbed? How much of a market exists for them today? If there is a market, is the market for specific medals or for the entire sets? These are questions that need to be answered. I don't know the answers.
Just curious where you saw this. I am always interested to see them expand their base of what they will holder.
Imagine how slow turnaround times might get if they start taking in hoards of Franklin Mint...
There's a lot of it out there...
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
Any way to make more on grading fees. The only way it’d make sense to slab them is rare low production sets. However, there seems to be so much availability on most of their sets so it wouldn’t be something I’d do.
I am not the OP, and do not know where the OP got the news, but here is a 3/21/23 article from the PCGS website.
Edited for a typo.
I think some of their gold pieces would do well getting graded. The silver might be a wash. The Franklin Mint hasn't been the Franklin Mint for about 30 years now. A string of owners over the years having nothing to do with FM other than retailing.
The FM building was torn down about 5 or 6 years ago and the land is awaiting development. The museum was demolished and townhouses now occupy that land.
Joe Segal sold the Franklin Mint and started something called QVC. Can you imagine buying things sold on TV?
The big melt on Franklin Mint material started in late 1979 with the silver run-up of that period combined with negative publicity from a TV show. Melting of the silver sets has continued to the present. I wonder just how many complete silver sets actually remain after 43 or so years of melting? Mintages on many of the sets were quite high so surviving populations may be higher than what many would expect.
The perfect thing for them to do when turn around times are so very fast already.
I am not sure I like that idea.
Will they CAC?
peacockcoins
At long last!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
PCGS tends to do exonumia only when there is a recognized authoritative catalog published on the matter.
Does such a thing exist for Franklin Mint ?
Or does PCGS no longer require that a published catalog exist ?
The Franklin mint put out annual catalogs. They’re actually very nice. I’ll try to post a pic when I get home
I have some nice sets that would look good in slabs but the expense, TAT, and shipping risks keep me from submitting.
That is what I thought, but wasn't sure.
I do like some of the small Franklin Mint silver ingots, such as the 1,000-grain state banks series. I wonder if those could be "slabbed" ?
On the email notice I got yesterday from PCGS. I'm sure it's on their front page by now.
bob
link: https://www.pcgs.com/news/pcgs-now-certifying-and-grading-franklin-mint-medals
How about expanding to grade Hummel Figurines; silver spoons that commemorate all 50 states; Pez dispensers; Match Box cars [Mint In Box]; Hot Wheels cars [Mint In Box], Star Wars action figures [Mint In Box]; Pet Rocks [Mint In Box]; etc.?
Nostalgia and the drive in some people to "collect" serve to support new and innovative markets.
The Franklin Mint made proof sets for lots of foreign countries, such as, I believe, the Bahamas, and probably others that didn't have the means to do it themselves. I could see why world coin collectors would want them in PCGS slabs. I don't know whether or not PCGS already graded those, though.
Young Numismatist
I believe the last edition of the Franklin Mint Catalog was published by Krause in 1982. It was a very comprehensive review of their products and included mintage figures. Some of the earlier catalogs illustrate nearly all of the individual medals.
PCGS have always slabbed the FM coins for other countries.
I think what’s new is now they do non-country medals?
Yes, that would be the case. I have posted a few coins slabbed by the FM, and found the coins generally to be of great quality.
Danny, the FM made some 10,000 grain bars from government assay silver & got one - very nice but of 0.925 purity silver....
Well, just Love coins, period.
Yes, most Franklin Mint bars are .925 sterling silver.
But some issues are 999 silver.
Any idea why they would have any interest in doing this, but not want to grade all of your stuff? Your items seem to have greater contemporary interest and credibility. Is it just that the Franklin Mint offers much more potential revenue for the TPG due to the sheer volume of pieces?
Here's the coin from the announcement:
PCGS does Disney silver rounds as well:
Thread: https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1066122/pcgs-grades-disney-silver-rounds
My guess is that they may require a printed catalog, like the ones covered in Krause. It would be interesting to see if PCGS would slab more work if a more comprehensive catalog was published. I've thought about publishing one to see but would need to carve out time for it.
The “hook” with the FM was subscriptions. They sent you an album or display case after you received a few pieces to encourage you to complete the series. Might be tough to pull out the ones you want graded; leaving holes in the album.
.> @Zoins said:
If PCGS is serious about getting people to collect Franklin Mint, the mintmark FM should be part of the item description. Otherwise, it will be far more difficult for FM newbies to figure out if they actually need the piece being offered. Seriously. I mean, few of us know the FM catalog as well as we know the Red Book.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
My thoughts
Wow!
Yikes!
Ack!
Thppt!
Have you seen the prices of some FM material lately? Some of it is HOT!
Why not be a part of that growth market?
This. Whenever I submit world coins that were minted at the Franklin Mint, and the existing PCGS attribution doesn't have the FM mintmark, I always add it and make a note in the notes field to that effect. Much of the time, they ignore me and do what they have always done.
Can you imagine if they forgot to add the mintmark on US coins? All hell would break loose.
The craftsmanship is very high from what I understand.
PCGS has the FM mintmark for many coins in the Pop Reports.
https://www.pcgs.com/pop/detail/category/992?l=barbados-0&ccid=992&p=PR&sn=858286&pn=1&ps=100
Here's an example:
Cert: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/35929603
True for some coins, but I find its correct only about 50% of the time. It's hit or miss whether they include it or not.
They even miss the Mo mintmark for Mexico at times.
I wonder if it has to do with recognizing the mintmark.
That's actually really interesting because the slab in the press release has the FM mintmark, but the SlabView doesn't.
Perhaps they caught it and just need to update the SlabView image?
@Zoins, I would think everyone who has been in numismatics for a while will recognize that FM mintmark. Its pretty distinctive, so much so that I bet it has been trademarked.
Edited to add: This might be it.
I'd agree with that with a minor modification to "everyone who has been in numismatics focusing on the Franklin Mint". I wouldn't be surprised if people who didn't focus on these coins didn't realize the Franklin Mint struck legal tender coins, or had a mintmark for such coins.
Not to get into a shouting match with you, but I do not "focus" on the Franklin Mint, and I have known about that logo for decades. It's hard to spend any time around coins, silver bullion, or ingots and not have heard about the FM logo or seen FM products. They have been "everywhere" since the early 1970s.
Gross.
Perhaps there's a bit of our own personal experience in our perspectives as I had no clue about the mintmark until it was mentioned in this thread. While I knew the Franklin Mint made coins, I did not actively collect them or silver bullion or ingots. I likely have some FM coins, but I got them for their eye appeal and never checked if they were minted by FM or not. It would be interesting to do a survey of coin collectors and see how many know about the FM mintmark.
I've been in this hobby-industry for decades, have easily handled millions of dollars in coins and did the show circuit for many years as a dealer. However, I have no idea what the FM mark is and would not recognize it if I had to find it.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Well... I learned something here.... the Franklin Mint had a mint mark, and now I recognize it. Cheers, RickO
I'm surprised to read that many experienced collectors are not aware of the Franklin Mint mintmark.
The only Franklin Mint coins I own are the first 4 (4-coin) sets of the 1976 Olympics. Those coins have no mintmark I can find.