As Segel explained to Direct Marketing in 1988, "My idea was to issue a series of solid sterling silver medals, a little larger than the silver dollar, of the highest quality of limited edition and each designed by a different famous sculptor." The first coin was to commemorate General MacArthur. He sensed a business opportunity, which would come to fruition after another event took place that received widespread media attention that year: the funeral of General Douglas MacArthur. He was already very much aware that as silver coins became scarce there was a growing number of people interested in collecting them. Treasury ceased to sell silver dollars, a decision that led to long lines of people at the Treasury building eager to buy the remaining silver dollars, and packs of photographers taking pictures of them for the newspapers and magazines, including Time, which published a photograph that caught Segel's attention. Segel's inspiration for creating The Franklin Mint was the result of the cross-pollination of two events. He ran the business until selling it in the early 1960s. In 1950 he published the Advertising Specialty Directory and launched a company he called the Advertising Specialty Institute. Because it was difficult to find a company to make the postcards, Segel compiled a list of suppliers as well as promotional products. It was a brilliant marketing gimmick, inducing the target to invest time by creating a desire to read the promotion. The recipient had to dip the card in water in order to reveal the message. As an underaged graduate student he also taught marketing classes at Wharton, while earning money on the side by selling promotional items, such as postcards with messages written in invisible ink. When he was 13 he started a printing business and in 1947, at the age of 16, he entered the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business to major in accounting. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1931. Segel, a legendary entrepreneur, who launched a number of businesses in his career, including the QVC television shopping channel. The Franklin Mint was founded by Joseph M. The company now concentrates on its die-cast automobile and airplane models and Harley-Davidson motorcycle branded items, although it continues to offer dolls, jewelry, and a variety of gift items.Ĭompany Founder: 1940s Whiz Kid Entrepreneur But as the collectibles industry has faltered with the rise of the Internet and the emergence of Ebay, The Franklin Mint has steadily lost business, forcing a major restructuring. Nevertheless, the company is a pioneer of the collectibles industry, starting with coins, which the company minted itself, and branching out to include such items as limited edition paintings and books, commemorative plates, figurines, celebrity likeness dolls, jewelry, seasonal giftware, and die-cast model airplanes and automobiles. Although it portrays itself as a company devoted to producing quality one-of-a-kind art objects, to many The Franklin Mint is little more than a mass purveyor of kitsch. The Franklin Mint is a subsidiary of Roll International Corporation, owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick, and based in Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb.
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