I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for US Coins, and I got a reply from a lady who has this box set of Franklin Mint coins. I don't know anything about it, so could someone give me some information and give me a estimated value? Is it worth buying?
What you have is a "history of the us" coin set. There are about 200 bronze coins each depicting some kind of historical event from 1776 to 1976. The set originally sold for over $600 new. Here is a set that sold for $200. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item1e6f1ab8ac&item=130713041068&nma=true&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=8zfrGf3eFX9yiMw7XE2NEdTfL%2B8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc#ht_500wt_1287 Here is a set that sold for $400. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item20c53de2d6&item=140748120790&nma=true&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=8zfrGf3eFX9yiMw7XE2NEdTfL%2B8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc#ht_2685wt_1270 Looks like prices range from $175 on up. I would offer her $75 and see what she says. Don't go over $125 if you want to make anything on it. If you want to buy it for keeps, $150 would be a fair offer.
While the Franklin Mint does produce coinage for some small countries, they don't produce any US coins. If they are supposed to be representative of US coins, in all likelihood, they are medals. Not knowing if they are silver and without photos, we would only be guessing about their value. Chris
It seems like they are medals, and are bronze. I am going by the eBay listings of course. These look very nice to me so I will definitely consider buying them.
Offer her $100 for the set. People buy things like that from the Franklin Mint thinking, "oh it's going to appreciate and become valuable!" Truth is they don't appreciate, they're usually over-priced non-U.S. Mint items worth a fraction of the retail price.
Now that most of the FM products are long gone. SOme do sell for a premium. Try to find a mint in box diecast model of the 1982 Corvette Collector's Edition in Beign for anywhere close to the $90 issue price. They sell in the $500 range. Certain products from FM have a cult following. There are groups devoted to them. Doll groups on Yahoo...diecast groups like www.diecast.org. So the generic statement about bad investent does not apply. Also with todays precious metal prices any old FM set with silver or gold in it is definitly selling way above issue price. In the 1970's FM charged about $19 for the average medal with 1.5 ounces of silver. Find any mint today that will charge that for a fully sculpted newly struck piece???
