Lot # : 148 - FRANKLIN MINT KNIFE ~ SOUTHERN RAILROAD CRESCENT

SHIPPING AVAILABLE > Produced by The Franklin Mint, a limited edition knife with case featuring a concave vignette frame o the handle with a detailed brass steam locomotive inset, flanked by ornate relief scroll designs ~ The blade features an engraved, stylized letters reading CRESCENT LIMITED above SOUTHERN RAILWAY ~ Open, measuring 6.5" long. CONDITION REPORT > Superb condition ~ Original plastic sleeve with a Franklin Mint Collector Knives black vinyl zipper case, ABOUT ~ The FRANKLIN MINT The Franklin Mint was a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The brand name is currently owned by Sequential Brands Group headquartered in New York City, New York. The Franklin Mint sells coins, medals, jewelry, die-cast vehicles, dolls, sculpture and other collectibles. For five decades The Franklin Mint produced and mass marketed "collectibles". Its product line began with manufacturing and marketing privately minted gold and silver commemorative rounds and medallions. In the 1970s and 1980s, Franklin Mint expanded operations to legal-tender coins, producing a combination of bullion and non-bullion proof and uncirculated coin sets of both small and large denominations for a number of countries, particularly Panama and various island states. One of its best numismatic sellers was the "Coin Sets of all Nations" series which included stamps and post marks of the respective nation on each set. Besides coins, other offerings included dolls, plates, knives, LP record sets and die-cast vehicles. Often emphasized in these media were influential historical figures or famous actors. Wildlife scenes were also a common feature. Many of these items were sold through magazine and television advertisement over the years. One of the LP sets was the 100 Greatest Recordings Of All Time, a collection of classical recordings selected by a panel of performers and conductors and pressed on translucent 180 gram deep red vinyl and packaged two LPs to an each album. Each LP was set into a plastic carrier that touched only the center spindle hole and the rim. There were two rereleases of this set. The second used ordinary paper sleeves inside a foldout compartment to house the LPs. The third used a side-open box and paper sleeves. In all three sets the vinyl quality was the same. The Franklin Library produced public domain classic books from its founding in 1973 until closing in 2000. Its books were designed and bound by The Sloves Organization, Ltd. In 1983, after Warner Communications had purchased the Franklin Mint, the company entered the diecast vehicle market, starting with the 1935 Mercedes Benz 500K Roadster. Usually the cars were labeled as Franklin Mint Precision Models. In the following years, Franklin Mint produced more than 600 different issues of motorcycles, trucks and tractors besides automobiles. Additionally the Franklin Mint began manufacturing diecast aircraft. The Franklin Mint produced a large number of World War II 1:48 scale planes including the B-17 Flying Fortress, PBY Catalina, P-51 Mustang, and FW190. HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY The Southern Railway was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined since the 1830s. The nine-mile South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Co., Southern's earliest predecessor line, was chartered in December 1827 and ran the nation's first scheduled passenger service to be pulled regularly by a steam locomotive -- the wood-burning "Best Friend of Charleston" -- out of Charleston, S.C., on Christmas Day 1830. When its 136-mile line to Hamburg, S.C. was completed in October 1833, it was the longest continuous line of railroad in the world. As railroad fever struck other Southern states, networks gradually spread across the South and even across the Allegheny Mountains. Charleston and Memphis, Tenn., were linked by 1857, although rail expansion halted with the start of the Civil War. Known as the "first railroad war," the Civil War left the South's railroads and economy devastated. Most of the railroads, however, were repaired, reorganized and operated again. In the area along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, construction of new railroads continued throughout Reconstruction. Southern Railway was created in 1894, largely from the financially-stressed Richmond & Danville system and the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad. The company owned two-thirds of the 4,400 miles of line it operated, and the rest was held through leases, operating agreements and stock ownership. Southern also subsequently controlled the Queen & Crescent Route ~ Alabama Great Southern; New Orleans & Northeastern; Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific; and for a time the Alabama & Vicksburg, and the Georgia Southern & Florida, which were operated separately. Southern's first president, Samuel Spencer, drew more lines into Southern's core system. During his 12-year term, the railway built new shops at Knoxville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia and purchased more equipment. He moved the company's service away from an agricultural dependence on tobacco and cotton and centered its efforts on diversifying traffic and industrial development. By the time the New Orleans & Northeastern, a route from Meridian, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana, was acquired in 1916 under Southern's president Fairfax Harrison, the railroad had attained the 8,000-mile, 13-state system that marked its territorial limits for almost half a century. The Central of Georgia became part of the system in 1963, and the former Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (Norfolk-Charlotte) was acquired in 1974. Southern and its predecessors were responsible for many firsts in the industry. Its predecessor, the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Co., was the first to carry passengers, U.S. troops and mail on regularly-scheduled steam-powered trains, and it was the first to operate at night. In 1953, Southern Railway became the first major railroad in the United States to convert totally to diesel-powered locomotives, ending its rich history in the golden age of steam. From dieselization and shop and yard modernization, to computers and the development of special cars and the unit coal train, Southern often was on the cutting edge of change, earning the company its catch phrase, "The Railway System that Gives a Green Light to Innovations."