You’ve probably seen the ads on TV, the Internet, and in magazines for Franklin Mint coins.
The Franklin Mint is highly respected and sells a variety of collectibles, including:
- Painted coins
- Coin sets and coin collections
- Coin jewelry
- Graded and slabbed United States coins
- Old, authentic legal tender coins and banknotes
- Gift sets
While many Franklin Mint coins and products are beautiful offerings that can be pretty hard for some to resist buying, here are a few things you should consider before buying Franklin Mint coins and novelty coins in general:
- The Franklin Mint does not strike official, legal tender coins.
- While the Franklin Mint does sell many, many authentic, unaltered, legal tender coins, it also sells many novelty coins.
- Novelty coins include those which are not legal tender, have been painted, or may have otherwise been altered.
- Don’t buy novelty coins with the expectation of them being significant investments.
- Coin inset into jewelry or otherwise altered lose most if not all their value as numismatic collectibles and investments.
My love for coins began when I was 11 years old. I primarily collect and study U.S. coins produced during the 20th century. I'm a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and the Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) and have won multiple awards from the NLG for my work as a coin journalist. I'm also the editor at CDN Publishing (a trusted source for the price of U.S. rare coins), editor at the Florida United Numismatists Club (FUN Topics magazine), and author of Images of America: The United States Mint in Philadelphia (a book that explores the colorful history of the Philadelphia Mint). I've contributed hundreds of articles for various coin publications including COINage, The Numismatist, Numismatic News, Coin Dealer Newsletter, Coin Values, and CoinWeek. I've also authored nearly 1,000 articles here at The Fun Times Guide to Coins — and I welcome your coin questions in the comments below!
