I first encountered The Franklin Mint, ca. 1971, when I was working as Museum Shop manager at The Baltimore Museum of Art.

Some things they were selling then were not too bad. I disapproved of their "limited edition" sales pitch, which evoked an aura of "exclusivity" and the prospect of investment value, to entice naive persons to buy.

I don't think I saw anything then that was as bad as what they are selling now (see example, left). And "museum quality" is a big "step up" in mendacious seduction beyond "limited edition".

When I recently looked at The Franklin Mint website, it was even worse than I expected. See for yourself!

"The Franklin Mint was founded in 1964 by Joseph Segel, who later founded the cable TV shopping channel QVC. In 1981, the Franklin Mint was acquired by Warner Communications, which sold it in 1985 to Stuart and Lynda Resnick for $168 million." ("Franklin Mint Museum cashes in on mania for collecting", by Joann Loviglio, Associated Press, Detroit Free Press online, 16Apr00)

The Franklin Mint even has its own museum: "The Franklin Mint Museum is on U.S. 1 in Franklin Center, southwest of Philadelphia. For information, call 610-459-6168 or visit the Web site www.franklinmint.com. Open 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free."(loc.cit.) Therefore, I guess they honestly can say "The Eye of the Golden Dragon" is "museum quality", since it presumably qualifies for inclusion in the collection of their own museum.

"The Franklin Mint... remains in business because of a simple fact: People... collect stuff... that reflects who we are.... [The mint] develops hundreds of new products each year, many through franchise agreements with organizations as disparate as Coca-Cola and the Vatican Museum."(loc.cit.)