EXTON, Pa. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) May 21, 2007 -- The Franklin Mint, which recently offered treasure from the El Cazador shipwreck in one of the most successful sales of authentic coins in history, today announced its interest in pursuing discussions with Odyssey Marine Exploration (AMEX:OMR) to acquire all or part of the immense treasure trove of silver and gold coins recently discovered along with the “Black Swan” shipwreck.

Coins recovered from shipwrecks are truly one-of-a-kind pieces of treasure, and The Franklin Mint has a long history of enhancing and securing the potential value of historic finds such as El Cazador

The Franklin Mint is no stranger to multi-million dollar “buried treasure” finds. This March, the company announced that it had acquired hundreds of thousands of coins from the famous El Cazador, “the shipwreck that changed the world” by sparking a series of events that led to the Louisiana Purchase and the doubling in size of the United States over 200 years ago. This was the most historically impactful find of its kind in U.S. history.

“Coins recovered from shipwrecks are truly one-of-a-kind pieces of treasure, and The Franklin Mint has a long history of enhancing and securing the potential value of historic finds such as El Cazador,” commented M. Moshe Malamud, chairman of The Franklin Mint and a life-long collector. “To many consumers, being able to own an authentic piece of American history and pass it on from generation to generation is priceless. We congratulate Odyssey on this extraordinary discovery, and it is our intent to discuss ways in which we can work with Odyssey to maximize its great potential value.”

Recovered, restored and then authenticated by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, the El Cazador silver Reale coins – the immediate predecessor to the U.S. Dollar – were made available to the public for the first time in April. The Franklin Mint kicked off its offering of El Cazador treasure with a multimillion-dollar sales event on QVC, and the ship’s artifacts hold an estimated value of over $100,000,000.

For more information on the El Cazador find, go to http://www.elcazador.com.

Photos of the El Cazador treasure are available through Getty Images as well as at http://franklinmint.com/newsmedia.

About The Franklin Mint

An American institution founded in 1964, The Franklin Mint is known worldwide for its innovative design, meticulous attention to detail, and creating some of the highest-quality collectible products in the world. The Franklin Mint’s peerless archives includes over 12,000 product lines, including “limited edition” fine art sculptures, heirloom collectible dolls, commemorative coins, designer jewelry, precision die-cast models and historic reproductions, as well as collections honoring some of the world’s most revered individuals and institutions. As one of the originators of many direct marketing techniques still used today, The Franklin Mint has brought collectibles to tens of millions of people around the world for over four decades. The Franklin Mint’s product lines have included some of the all time, best-selling collectible products including Monopoly – The Collector’s Edition, the original Civil War Chess Set and numerous successful licensed programs with Chevrolet, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Ford, General Motors, Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, The Smithsonian Institute and Paramount Studios, just to name a few. The Franklin Mint is privately held, with ownership whose holdings also include The Morgan Mint.

KEYWORDS: El Cazador Franklin Mint Shipwreck Treasure Odyssey Marine Exploration Black Swan

Post Comment:
Trackback URL: http://ca.prweb.com/pingpr.php/RW1wdC1Db3VwLUZhbHUtRW1wdC1UaGlyLVplcm8=

treasure shipwreck odyssey marine exploration franklin mint el cazador black swan

Bookmark -  Del.icio.us | Digg | Furl It | Spurl | RawSugar | Simpy | Shadows | Blink It | My Web