For Release: December 1, 2006
Gallery Mint Changes Ownership, Expands Services
(Eureka Springs, AR)-Gallery Mint Inc., the private mint founded by master
engraver Ron Landis and his late partner Joe Rust fifteen years ago, has been
sold to a limited liability corporation that includes former
GMI employees. The new company, Striker Token and Medal, LLC, will
continue operating in the same plant in northwest Arkansas and will
continue producing the company's signature high-quality reproduction coinage.
In addition to offering reproduction
coinage, Striker will also now accept private commissions from individuals,
businesses and coin clubs interested in low-volume runs of tokens and
medals. "There is a strong interest from coin collectors in having just
a few medals or tokens made for their own use," said former GMI
employee Timothy Grat, now mint master for the Striker. "We can access our
library of over 2,000 dies to help each collector customize his or her
own piece."
Grat said he is "stoked" about the new Mini-mint demonstration that
Striker will be offering to coin show organizers and event promoters
around the country. "We have totally redesigned the Mini-mint demonstration
that was so popular at coin shows for the
past years," said Grat. "The new minting exhibits have been
significantly upgraded and now go from a one-person demonstration of
hand-hammered coinage, to a full production, four-person performance of
all seven steps in the minting process." He said that
there will also be static exhibits that tell the story of minting even
when the machines are not being operated. The new exhibits and
demonstration is scheduled to debut at the 50th Annual Money Show of
the Southwest in Houston in late January, 2007.
Rust and Landis formed Gallery Mint Museum in 1992. In 2005, the company
split into two different organizations: Gallery Mint Museum Foundation
(GMMF),
a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation of the art and
technology of the minting process, and Gallery Mint Incorporated (GMI),
a for-profit business. This sale completes the separation of the two
entities. "Now that GMI has been purchased
by Striker, there should not be any more confusion over the Gallery
Mint name," said Grat. "The only Gallery Mint is the non-profit museum."
The sale of GMI includes all of the minting equipment, dies and rights
of reproduction to those dies. The company mailing address will remain
the same but there is a new telephone system and WATS number. Landis
will continue his association with the new company as a consultant.
Grat said that all orders placed with GMI will be honored by Striker
and the company will also stand by the limited production of past GMI
offerings. "If it was a limited edition coin made by Gallery Mint, we
will honor that limitation and not produce
any more of those specific reproductions."
For more information about purchasing reproduction coinage or placing an
order for tokens or medals, contact Striker at 1-888-688-3330, email them
at info@striker-mfg.com
or write Striker Token and Medal,
PO Box 706, Eureka Springs, AR 72632. The company's website
www.striker-mfg.com, will
allow on-line purchasing of the
company product line and will be operational shortly.
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© 2006 Striker
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