The Franklin Mint is a private
mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...
founded by
Joseph Segel
Joseph Myron Segel (January 9, 1931 – December 21, 2019) was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of over 20 American companies, most notably QVC, an American television network, and the Franklin Mint, a producer of mail-order collect ...
in 1964 in
Wawa, Pennsylvania
Wawa is an unincorporated community located in Delaware County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia, partially in Middletown Township and partially in Chester Heights Borough.Mayer, Cynthia. "Pay A Visit To Wawa, The Place. ...
. The building is in
Middletown Township.
The brand name was previously owned by
Sequential Brands Group headquartered in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. It is currently owned by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV). The Franklin Mint sells coins, medals, jewelry, die-cast vehicles, dolls, sculpture and other
collectibles
A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...
.
History
For five decades The Franklin Mint produced and mass marketed "collectibles". Its product line began with manufacturing and marketing privately minted
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
commemorative rounds and
medal
A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...
lions.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Franklin Mint expanded operations to legal tender
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
s, producing a combination of bullion and non-bullion proof and uncirculated coin sets of both small and large denominations for a number of countries, particularly
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
and various island states. One of its best numismatic sellers was the "Coin Sets of all Nations" series which included stamps and post marks of the respective nation on each set.
Besides coins, other offerings included dolls, plates, knives, LP record sets and die-cast vehicles. Often emphasized in these media were influential historical figures or famous actors. Wildlife scenes were also a common feature. Many of these items were sold through magazine and television advertisement over the years.
One of the LP sets was the ''100 Greatest Recordings Of All Time'', a collection of classical recordings selected by a panel of performers and conductors and pressed on translucent 180 gram deep red vinyl and packaged two LPs to each album. Each LP was set into a plastic carrier that touched only the center spindle hole and the rim. There were two rereleases of this set. The second used ordinary paper sleeves inside a foldout compartment to house the LPs. The third used a side-open box and paper sleeves. In all three sets the vinyl quality was the same.
The Franklin Library
The Franklin Library produced
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
classic book
A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
s from its founding in 1973 until closing in 2000. Its books were
designed and bound by The Sloves Organization, Ltd. The Franklin Library published a number of book series including the Great Books of the Western World and The Hundred Greatest Books of All Time.
Vehicle models
In 1983, after Warner Communications had purchased The Franklin Mint, the company entered the
diecast vehicle market, starting with the 1935
Mercedes Benz 500K Roadster
The Mercedes-Benz 500K (W29) is a grand touring car built by Mercedes-Benz between 1934 and 1936. First exhibited at the 1934 Berlin Motor Show, it carried the factory designation W29. Distinguished from the 500 sedan by the "K" for ''Kompresso ...
. Usually the cars were labeled as
Franklin Mint Precision Models
Franklin Mint Precision Models were made by the Franklin Mint, originally a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The company is now owned by a private equity firm headquartered in Midtown Manhattan New York City and ...
. In the following years, Franklin Mint produced more than 600 different issues of motorcycles, trucks and tractors besides automobiles.
Additionally The Franklin Mint began manufacturing diecast aircraft. They produced a large number of World War II 1:48 scale planes including the
B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
,
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...
,
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...
, and
FW190
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' ("Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, th ...
.
Changes in ownership
![Franklin Mint Museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Franklin_Mint_Museum.JPG)
In 1980,
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
(now part of
WarnerMedia
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
) 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 Sports
Eastern Mountain Sports (or EMS) is an outdoor clothing and equipment retailer in the Northeastern United States headquartered in Meriden, Connecticut.
EMS sells outdoor equipment and clothing from both name brands and its own EMS line. The compa ...
, 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. During the early 2000s, Roll International wound down much of the Franklin Mint business. On August 31, 2006, Roll International Corp sold the remaining assets of The Franklin Mint to a group including private equity investors led by M. Moshe Malamud, David Salzman and Steven J. Sisskind, who have extensive experience in the art, collectibles, media, entertainment and direct marketing industries.
The Franklin Mint brand was purchased in November 2013 by Sequential Brands Group. It was later acquired by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) in July 2020, a holding company that was founded by former
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
scientist Alex Mehr and his business partner, serial entrepreneur Tai Lopez.
''Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund vs Franklin Mint''
Following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was an independent grant-giving foundation established in September 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to continue her humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and overseas. It was a regi ...
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 jewelry.
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, was countersued 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 on which both sides agreed.
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.
Use in popular culture
In the
Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds Five is an American alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprises Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano), Robert Sledge (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums, backing vocals). The gro ...
song "Battle of Who Could Care Less", singer
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer, who is the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., since May 2017. Folds was th ...
proposes taking an idea of "pewter portraits of General Apathy and Major Boredom" "to the Franklin fucking Mint".
See also
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin Mint
1964 establishments in Pennsylvania
American companies established in 1964
Coin retailers
Companies based in Chester County, Pennsylvania
Companies based in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Companies based in Manhattan
Defunct book publishing companies of the United States
Mints (currency)
Mints of the United States
Model manufacturers of the United States
Publishing companies established in 1973
The Wonderful Company
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021