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John Pinches MedallionsClick here to return to Medallions IndexChard 24 Carat Home Page

William and Mary
William and Mary Silver Ingot by John Pinches
Silver Gilt Medallion by John Pinches
Silver Gilt Medallion by John Pinches
John Pinches Medallions
John Pinches Medallists were founded in or around 1840, but were under the shadow of the Wyon family of English engravers for much of their early existence. While a number of the Wyons were engravers and chief engravers at the Royal Mint, other family members ran a medal business outside the Mint. Pinches was founded by John Pinches (1825-1905), who had learned steel engraving from his mother's cousin, medallist William Joseph Taylor (beginning when John was 15 years old in 1840, the year the firm determined as its founding). Four members of the Pinches family were associated with the firm after the first John Pinches:
  1. John Harvey Pinches (1852-1941), the son of the founder.
  2. John Robert Pinches (1884-1968), a grandson
  3. A second John Harvey Pinches
  4. and a cousin, Leslie Pinches
The second John Harvey Pinches wrote the book "Medals by John Pinches; A Catalog of Works Struck by the Company from 1840 to 1969", published in 1987.
Infrequently Pinches struck medals engraved by one or other of the Wyons, but in 1932 Pinches acquired the J.S. & A.B. Wyon firm and all its dies. But its most historical moment came in 1969, when it sold out to the Franklin Mint, of Media, Pennsylvania, as part of a European expansion. Franklin Mint had Pinches reduce the famed Waterloo Medal -- still in its archives -- which had only been issued before in galvano form, and prepare dies to strike this in 1972. Franklin Mint sold 5,000 of these medals worldwide. The book records the notable productions of Pinches for the 129-year history of the firm. Interestingly, the author records the height of the relief of most items -- as coin, shallow, bold, high or very high -- in addition to usual data as size, composition and such. Of greatest interest to collectors, however, are the Commemorative Medals in the next to last chapter. (These are not detailed)
A number of nineteenth century medals or medallions by John Pinches are owned by the British National Portrait Gallery.
The last chapter recounts a handful of coins struck by Pinches, including the famed Puffin coins of Lundy Island.
The name PINCHES can be seen of most of their medals rather than a mintmark.

Franklin Mint
Due to the powerful marketing employed by Franklin Mint, most medallions issued in the name of John Pinches from 1969 onwards are quite common, and are more commercial in their nature than those produced previously by the independent John Pinches. The depth of the relief, for example, although still deeper than on most coins, in quite shallow or low compared with many older medals and medallions, which were usually produced in smaller quantities. Obviously Franklin Mint retained the name John Pinches for some years after the acquisition, as we see many sets produced around 1974 which were issued in the name of John Pinches.

We Buy & Sell Medals & Medallions
We are always happy to buy medals and medallions of any kind, including those by John Pinches. We would be particularly keen to buy the older ones produced by the original independent firm from 1840 to 1869. Prices would depend on size, metal, condition, and subject matter.
We also buy the modern Pinches medallions, and pay fair market prices for them, but please bear in mind that they were produced in large quantities, and often only sell for slightly over their scrap value, as most of the sets we see are made of silver, then this would relate to the price of scrap silver. Some series are silver-gilt (gold plated on silver), the gold content of these is very small, and prices would be similar to the prices for silver medallions.

John Pinches Medallions
Index of John Pinches medallions on this site.