So what ever happenned to the Franklin Mint?

claychaser

Just curious: Franklin Mint used to make lots of overpriced medals and stuff. I see that they are now making some jewelry and motorcycle toys, but no medals. Does anybody know when they stopped making the "make a collectable" stuff? Wasn't there some kind of 60 Minutes expose on it? Did they close the PA mint?

ScarsdaleCoin

Became QVC.... lol


To explain further if you dont know Joe Seagle started em both

claychaser

Very funny . . . . . . .but I don't believe it!

ScarsdaleCoin

true

291fifth

I believe they last minted medals in early 2002.

nankraut

They "downsized" due to reduced demand for their "coins", and moved on to other collectibles, like model cars, dolls, etc..

Heywood

Not to hijack the thread but anybody ahve info on The Danbury Mint? I got a set of 14kt Space program medalions in a cherrywood box and can't find any info on them. Looks like they did the same as the franlklin mint- moved on to other trinkets.

ScarsdaleCoin

Hi Jack....I remember that one of the big engravers Thomas at Danbury now works for the Hoffman Mint as the Plant Manager...heck of a nice guy...he would be the contact person

claychaser

No hijack here! My questions does extend to all of the "make a collectable" outfits.

Some of the stuff was cool - but just way overpriced.

Is there anybody who deal in the stuff? Is it priced based on bullion value, or more?

I would think the vast majority of it gets sent out to be melted when it's brought into a coin shop. Any opinions?

BulletBiter

There use to be a store located in the Mall of America, and I think still was as recently as a couple of years ago. When it first opened they had a number of coin/medal related things. Some that were produced by Franklin Mint and some that were framed displays of coins.

They also have a website but the only think coin related that I saw was a display that has a Franklin Half (BU 1948), a replica of a stamp in recognition of his role as the first Postmaster General, a DVD. Only 500 made and yours for a mere $1,995.00!!


Franklin Mint Site


Direct link so you don't waste time searching

THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ARCHIVE COLLECTION

ScarsdaleCoin

The Franklin Mint produced some great beauty pieces over the years...a few years ago when silver was half what it was today, I could buy the sets and sell them to collectors...however with silver where it is now....the sets are way expensive for the average collector.....take a set of 50 ingots 1 oz each ...the melt would be aournd $500 bucks.... I do have a section on my website and have many others put away ...I also have quite a bit of the reference material on the various sets made over the years should you or any member of the boards have a specific question on a set

flaminio

<< <i>THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ARCHIVE COLLECTION >>

The stamp doesn't appear to be a replica -- looks like an authentic 1847 Franklin 5c.

Still no where near worth $1995, but it does make it a little bit less of a rip-off.

Deadhorse

I believe the Franklin mint actually used to mint legal tender coins for a few small foreign countries.

I was surprised to learn this tidbit several years ago.

PhillyJoe

<< <i>I believe they last minted medals in early 2002. >>



I would guess it's been more than 10 years since they were really active. I worked for them in 1983-84. We still minted medals and "Coins of the World" and the infamous silver ingots, but the focus had shifted to plates, thimbles; and all that porcelain crap. As an internal auditor, I got to confirm the precious metals counts every month. We were owned by Warner Communications at the time and were later spun off to a collectibles company. They turned it into a 100% import company and the porcelain plant closed and the minting virtually stopped.

Joe Segal had started the FM in the mid-60's and hired Gilroy Roberts to head up the Engraving Dept.
Segal's interests was eventually bought out in the late 70's and thought he would try his hand at selling things on TV on our local cable channel. He hired many former FM people for his upstart QVC. He purchased his own satellite for QVC (cost something like $20 million dollars) and immediately leased the excess capacity for more than he paid.

Many of the nicer darkside coins were made at the Franklin Mint, including some of the Cook Island "gifted" proof dollars.

Many of the COA's will refer to the medallions as being endorsed by organizations such as the
"New England Birdwatchers Collectors Plate Society" Those societies existed on paper only and the "officers" were Mint employees. "Limited Edition" was widely used and was a theoretical phrase, similar to the 1964 Kennedy business strike mintage of 350,000,000 was also "limited".

The "60 Minutes" story broke shortly before I joined them and it was the beginning of the end with regard to perceived value of a Franklin Mint collectible. The word "melt" became a response most collectors heard when selling.

The FM building is still in Delaware County and is being turned into an office complex. I still use my Franklin Mint Credit Union for my daily banking; a thriving entity on its own.

Joe

cladking

A lot of the Franklin Mint medal were of stunning quality and were very well executed. While
the prices were very high it was really the large production runs which made these poor "in-
vestments". No matter how desirable a medal is if there are thousands or tens of thousands
made then there simply won't be enough demand to support a secondary market.

People who dismiss everything FM out of hand are missing a bet. Some of their products were
made in more limited quantities and some of their world coins are quite legitimate and are very
low mintage, highly artistic, and very desirable. There is often a huge attrition on some of these
like the gold coins. These often had very high face values and are still being taken back to the
issuing authority for redemption. Redeemed coins are almost certainly being melted. There are
so few collectors for this material one is left to wonder if there will be any survivors when collect-
ors finally get interested.

The silver medals and ingots trade at prices based on melt but there are many individual pieces
which bring some premium because they are in high demand or because they depict a very pop-
ular subject.

FullStrike

<< <i>So what ever happenned to the Franklin Mint? >>



In a top secret deal - the Franklin Mint merged with the US Mint. Take a goood looong look at those Ben Franklins that just recently were on sale by the US Mint. Look familiar?

Franklin Mint all the way.

claychaser

Two great posts from PhillyJoe and Caldking!

It's cool to get the perspective of a former employee - especially an auditor with professional independence.

So the QVC link is real!