The Franklin Mint is a private corporation founded in 1964, based in
Middletown, PennsylvaniaMiddletown is the name of more than one location in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania:*Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania*Middletown, Northampton County, Pennsylvania*Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania...
, which markets coin-like
tokenToken may refer to:* In logic, computational linguistics, and information retrieval, a token is an instance of a type; see Type-token distinction....
s and other collectibles of its own designs. It was founded by
Joseph SegelJoseph Segel is the founder of over 20 American companies, most notably QVC, an American television network, and the Franklin Mint, a producer of mail-order collectibles...
.
The mint started by manufacturing and marketing privately-minted
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
and
silverSilver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
commemorativeCommemorative coins are coins that were issued to commemorate some particular event or issue. Most world commemorative coins were issued from the 1960s onward, although there are numerous examples of commemorative coins of earlier date. Such coins have a distinct design with reference to the...
rounds and
medalA Medal is usually a coin-like sculpted object of metal or other material that has been die-struck with an insignia, portrait or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific, academic or some other kind of...
lions, but quickly branched out into other collectibles. In the 1960s the price of silver rose, causing all silver
coinA coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material and sometimes made of synthetic materials, usually in the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government. Coins are used as a form of money in transactions of various kinds, from the everyday circulation coins to the...
s to be removed from circulation.
The Franklin Mint is a private corporation founded in 1964, based in
Middletown, PennsylvaniaMiddletown is the name of more than one location in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania:*Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania*Middletown, Northampton County, Pennsylvania*Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania...
, which markets coin-like
tokenToken may refer to:* In logic, computational linguistics, and information retrieval, a token is an instance of a type; see Type-token distinction....
s and other collectibles of its own designs. It was founded by
Joseph SegelJoseph Segel is the founder of over 20 American companies, most notably QVC, an American television network, and the Franklin Mint, a producer of mail-order collectibles...
.
History
The mint started by manufacturing and marketing privately-minted
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
and
silverSilver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
commemorativeCommemorative coins are coins that were issued to commemorate some particular event or issue. Most world commemorative coins were issued from the 1960s onward, although there are numerous examples of commemorative coins of earlier date. Such coins have a distinct design with reference to the...
rounds and
medalA Medal is usually a coin-like sculpted object of metal or other material that has been die-struck with an insignia, portrait or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific, academic or some other kind of...
lions, but quickly branched out into other collectibles. In the 1960s the price of silver rose, causing all silver
coinA coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material and sometimes made of synthetic materials, usually in the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government. Coins are used as a form of money in transactions of various kinds, from the everyday circulation coins to the...
s to be removed from circulation. The
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
casinoA casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions...
s used
silver dollarsDollar coins have been minted in the United States in gold, silver, and base metal versions. The term silver dollar is often used for any large white metal coin issued by the United States with a face value of one dollar; although purists insist that a dollar is not silver unless it contains some...
in their
slot machineA slot machine , fruit machine , or poker machine is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...
s, which were soon worth more than a
dollarThe dollar is the name of the official currency in several countries, including Australia, Canada, the Eastern Caribbean territories, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States.-History:...
. The Franklin Mint was one of the earliest and largest minters of replacement
slot machine tokensCasino tokens are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines...
.
Coins and medallions
It minted in its own production facility numerous sets of coins-of-the-realm, theme-based medals and
ingotAn ingot is a material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. Non-metallic and semiconductor materials prepared in bulk form may also be referred to as ingots, particularly when cast by mold based methods.-Uses:...
s, selling them on the subscription plan, with buyers getting a monthly shipment and invoice. Franklin Mint struck issues in all the different precious and semi-precious metals. American history and art masterpiece themes were predominant, with
spaceOuter space comprises the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace and terrestrial locations....
, important persons and other topics also quite popular. Sets were often limited by the number of subscribers, by a cut-off date or a fixed mintage, resulting in "limited editions". Prices were fairly reasonable, compared to the cost of silver, and often tens of thousands of sets were sold. Custom
woodWood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of trees . In a living tree it transfers water and nutrients to the leaves and other growing tissues, and has a support function, enabling woody plants to reach large sizes or to stand up for themselves...
cases, fancy packaging and certificates appealed to
collectorsCoin collecting is the collecting or trading of coins or other forms of minted legal tender.Coins of interest to collectors often include those that circulated for only a brief time, coins with mint errors and especially beautiful or historically significant pieces. Coin collecting can be...
, 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.
Books
From 1973 to 2000, the Franklin Mint had a division called the
Franklin LibraryThe Franklin Library, the distributing arm of the publishing division, The Franklin Press, of the The Franklin Mint, was the nation's largest distributor of great books produced in fine bindings for book collectors, similar to Easton Press...
, which produced hundreds of editions of classic works of literature, in what is purported to be fine bindings. Franklin Mint even purchased the Sloves Book Bindery in NYC to help jumpstart its book division in the 1970's. The most recent book offerings were produced by RR Donnelly for the Franklin Library.
Other collectibles
In 1983, the Franklin Mint entered the
die-castThe term die-cast toy here refers to any toy or collectible model produced by using the die casting method. The toys are made of metal and plastic, the metal used commonly is zamak , an alloy of zinc and aluminium. Zamak is also referred to as white metal or pot metal...
car market with the 1935 Mercedes Benz 500K Roadster. In the following years, Franklin Mint produced numerous designs including the
Rolls-Royce Silver GhostThe Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost refers both to a car model and to one specific car from that series.Originally named the "40/50 h.p." the chassis was originally produced at Royce's Manchester works moving to Derby in July 1908 and between 1921 and 1926 at Springfield, Massachusetts factories. Chassis no...
, one of Franklin Mint's better-selling models. Collector knives, figurines, plates,
MonopolyMonopoly is a board game published by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, the domination of a market by a single entity....
sets,
chess setsChess pieces vary in both value and abilities. A standard chess match consists of each player having the following equipment:* 1 king* 1 queen* 2 rooks* 2 bishops* 2 knights* 8 pawns...
and board games, plaques, and other collectibles have been issued over the years by the Franklin Mint.
The Franklin Mint was heavily reliant upon direct mail and media print ads for sales. Advertisements for Franklin Mint collectibles—including the
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
Commemorative Chess Set among thousands of other items—were once ubiquitous in popular magazines.
Changes in ownership and current status
In 1980,
Warner CommunicationsWarner Communications was established in 1972 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
(now part of
Time WarnerTime Warner Inc. is the world's largest entertainment conglomerate , as well as the world's fourth largest media conglomerate, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City...
) purchased The Franklin Mint for about $225 million. The combination was short lived: Warner sold The Franklin Mint in 1985 to American Protection Industries Inc. (API) for $167.5 million. However, Warner retained
Eastern Mountain SportsEastern Mountain Sports is an outdoor apparel and equipment retailer in the U.S. Northeast. It is headquartered in Peterborough, New Hampshire....
, a retailer that The Franklin Mint had acquired in the 1970s, as well as The Franklin Mint Center, which it leased back to API. API was renamed Roll International in 1993.
On October 17 2006, The Franklin Mint announced it was sold by Roll International Corp to a number of private investors including New York financier M. Moshe Malamud and Steven Sisskind, chairman and chief executive 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 planned to return Franklin Mint to its former market-leading status and offer the full lineup of collectibles including coins and medallics. Dun & Bradstreet reported 300 workers as of Aug. 2006 and in April 2008 the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Mint had added an additional 200 employees in 2007 to its U.S. workforce to support its growth.
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund vs Franklin Mint
Following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial FundThe Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund is an independent grant-giving charity established in September 1997 to continue the Princess' humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and overseas....
was granted intellectual property rights over her image. In 1998, after refusing the Franklin Mint an official license to produce Diana merchandise, the fund sued the company, accusing it of illegally selling Diana dolls, plates and jewellery. In California, where the initial case was tried, a suit to preserve the
right of publicity may be filed on behalf of a dead person, but only if that person is a Californian. The Memorial Fund therefore filed the lawsuit on behalf of the estate, and upon losing the case were counter sued by Franklin Mint in 2003. In November 2004, the case was settled out of court with the Diana Memorial Fund agreeing to pay £13.5 million to charitable causes that both sides agreed on. In addition to this, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund had spent a total of close to £4 million in costs and fees relating to this litigation, and as a result froze grants allocated to a number of charities.
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.