The Brussels Times reports that private mint Osborne Coinage has been sold to a firm in Belgium.
-Editor
The Belgian company Royal United Mint from the municipality of Westerlo in the Antwerp province, has acquired the oldest private mint in the United States, Osborne Coinage.
Royal United Mint is part of the Belgian holding company Groep Heylen, and is also the parent company of the Royal Dutch Mint and Mauquoy Token Company from Westerlo – the largest producer of metal coins and tokens in Europe.
"With this acquisition, we are setting foot in the United States," Royal United Mint told Belga News Agency. "We are the world leader in the coin and token market. Andre McCaster, who has been in charge of Osborne Coinage for two years, will continue the management."
Osborne Coinage is an American company, located in Cincinnati (Ohio), and is the oldest private mint in the United States. For the past 75 years, the company has been owned by the Stegman family.
"Through Osborne Coinage, small and medium-sized customers in the US can be better served," said the Belgian company. "For example, Osborne makes payment tokens in base metals or collector tokens in precious metals for collectors and central banks."
Osborne Coinage already made tokens for the campaigns of US Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin D. Roosevelt. During World War II, Osborne Coinage made food tokens out of fibre to save on the use of metal, which was then mainly used for warfare.
Here's more information from the Osborne website.
-Editor
A New Era for Osborne Coinage
Osborne Coinage, the oldest private mint in America, is pleased to announce a partnership with Belgium-based Royal United Mint. Andre McCaster, the current president, becomes CEO and joint shareholder in this venture.
Pictured L to R - Vincent Van Hecke (CEO Royal United Mint), Jeffrey Stegman (CEO Osborne Coinage), and Andre McCaster (President Osborne Coinage)
Osborne Coinage, the oldest private mint in the United States has had many historical milestones in its 188 years of doing business, including minting campaign medallions for Abraham Lincoln, creating scrip for lumber mills and coal mines in the early 1900s and manufacturing billions of fiber ration tokens during World War II. After WWII, the company's focus shifted to commercial applications like subway and toll tokens, the production of tokens for subways and toll roads, casino tokens, promotional business coins, commemoratives, awards, and collectible numismatics. The Stegman family has owned the business for 75 years.
Another Milestone
Effective April 3, 2023, Osborne Coinage Company reached another milestone by becoming part of the Royal United Mint, joining notable companies The Royal Dutch Mint and Mauquoy Token Company.
Shared minting knowledge and expertise of three mints
This partnership facilitates knowledge sharing, an expansion of the product range, as well as efficiency gains in production, sales, and logistics.
Andre McCaster, is now the CEO. McCaster has been with Osborne for 27 years and worked his way up the ladder from production operator to production control manager, Vice President of Manufacturing, and most recently, President. He has several degrees, including an MBA from the University of Cincinnati.
Our goal has always been to be a true leader in the minting industry by providing quality, unique, and timely products/services throughout the world. By forming this partnership with the Royal United Mint, we will be able to increase our capacity, product offerings and better serve our domestic and international customers, said Andre McCaster, President of Osborne Coinage.
The company statement calls it a "partnership" but the Times article calls it an "acquisition". What's really going on?
Let's hope this marks the beginning of a new era, not the beginning of the end for the granddaddy of America's private mints. Hopefully the new owners will not only preserve the company's records and archives, but also allow researchers to access them.
-Editor
To read the complete articles, see:
Belgian company takes over oldest private mint in the US
(https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/444512/belgian-company-takes-over-us-oldest-private-mint)
A New Era for Osborne Coinage
(https://customcoins.osbornecoin.com/news/osborne-coinage-partners-with-royal-united-mint)
To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
OSBORNE MINT
(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v06n42a14.html)
THE OSBORNE COINAGE COMPANY
(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v06n43a04.html)
THE OSBORNE COINAGE COMPANY OF CINCINNATI, OH
(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n31a05.html)
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS CINCINNATI'S OSBORNE COINAGE
(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n09a14.html)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor
at this address: whomren@gmail.com
To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.
NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
|