|
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...
 Home
Cultures, Ethnicities
Decorative Collectibles
 All God's Children
Andrea by Sadek
ANRI
Armani
Avon
Bing & Grondahl Coll Plates
Blue Sky Clayworks
Boyds
Bradford Exchange
Byers Choice
Cat's Meow Village
Charming Tails
Christopher Radko
Danbury Mint
David Winter
Dept 56
Dreamsicles
Duncan Royale
Enesco
Faberge
Fitz & Floyd
Flambro
Franklin Mint
 Collector Plates
Figurines
Other Franklin Mint Items
Halcyon Days
Hallmark
Hamilton Collector Plates
Harbour Lights
Harmony Kingdom
HOMCO
Hummel, Goebel
Josef
Knowles Collector Plates
Lefton Figurines
Lenox
Liberty Falls
Lilliput Lane
Limoges
Lladro
Longaberger
Madame Alexander
Margaret Furlong
Mary Engelbreit
Midwest of Cannon Falls
Norman Rockwell
Old World
Other Brands
PartyLite
Patricia Breen
Pendelfin
Polonaise
Precious Moments
Rein Poortvliet
Roman
Royal Copenhagen Coll Plates
Royal Doulton
San Francisco Music Box
Sarah's Attic
Schmid
Sebastian Miniatures
Shelia's
Slavic Treasures
Swarovski
Thomas Kinkade
Tom Clark
Unbranded
Wade Figurines
Wedgwood
Willitts
Willow Tree
Holiday, Seasonal
Religions, Spirituality
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 coins-of-the-realm, theme-based medals and ingots, 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 Space and 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 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.
From 1973 to 2000, the Franklin Mint had a devision called the Franklin Library, which produced hundreds of editions of classic works of literature in fine bindings.
In 1983, and to much success, 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, figurines, plates, Monopoly sets, chess sets and board games, plaques, coins, medals, 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. 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.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
|
|
