Should you work with Northwest Territorial Mint?

Northwest Territorial Mint

Company Background

Northwest Territorial Mint was founded in1984, by a man named Ross Hansen. Hansen is a seasoned bullion dealer and minting expert who has well over 30 years’ experience in his respected field.

He began his first endeavor in the precious metals industry in 1981, at the ripe young age of 20, when he initially founded a company called Auburn Precious Metals.

Before starting our review I want to clear up a wrong assumption that I noticed online.

As opposed to a common misconception, Northwest Territorial Mint was not rebranded to Ranger Industries.

Ranger Industries, LLC. is not Northwest Territorial Mint. They are completely separate companies. Ranger Industries have no association with Ross Hansen or NWTM’s bankruptcy issues.

Ranger Industries, LLC. is not a precious metals bullion dealer. They do not buy, sell, or trade precious metals as a commodity.

They only offer silver as a material option for their commemorative custom challenge coins, key chains, lapel pins, belt buckles, and other 3D items. The company is not involved in bullion trade, the market, or speculation.

Ranger Industries, LLC. was founded in 2016 and was a competitor to Northwest Territorial Mint for 2 years. When NWTM went out-of-business in 2018, Mark Calvert of Cascade Capital based in Seattle Washington, the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, posted a public auction for NWTM’s various assets.

Ranger Industries purchased NWTM’s custom minted designs and its associated intellectual property via that auction.

The company also purchased the remainder of NWTM’s non-precious metals retail online store inventory. That purchase occurred in August of 2019, and the company has publicly announced it later that year.

Rob Hansen Gets Indicted for Fraud.

The former President, CEO, and vault manager of Northwest Territorial Mint were indicted for fraud in 2018 leaving the company, at the time, bankrupt.

I would like to point out that his charges included 20 federal felonies resulting from a rather shady scheme that defrauded his customers of millions of dollars.

Personally, I’m unsure of the outcome of this. I just know that he is no longer affiliated with the company.

At the time of my readings, the charges were allegations, and he is, of course, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Things to know:

  • They are also 100 percent officially licensed with all of the military branches to include the Veterans Administration.
  • They produce quality and reasonably affordable custom challenge coins for different branches of the U.S. Military, Federal and State Governments, Small and Large Businesses and for even for customers like me, private individuals.
  • Between Frink and his team, they have a combined experience total of more than 75 years dealing in the custom minting industry.

Ok, one last thing before we get down to brass tacks, I want to add that I’ll be doing my best to only include information about the current company and not the one of the past.

Enough Backstory, Let’s Get Into it, What Are They Selling?

First on the list:

  • Challenge Coins: A military tradition, the challenge coin is recognized as a great way to carry and declare your membership or pride for a specific profession, organization, institution, group, unit, or branch.
  • I also have to say, their Challenge Coin list is amazing. Great quality. They truly produce a product anyone could be proud of.
  • Presentation and Displays: They offer a wide array of choices here too. From see-through acrylic displays to leather, plush, velvet, even wood options.
  • Precious Metals: Gold, silver, and bronze.
  • They don’t offer as many choices here as other precious metals vendors but it’s worth a look if you’re interested.
  • Custom Belt Buckles, Badges, Pendants, Lapel Pins, and Cufflinks: The list goes on and on. The store itself is rather impressive, and if you fancy yourself a collector of fine metals and military memorabilia, I would recommend checking them out.
  • Other: You can find some knives, tumblers, pens, wine stoppers, golf ball makers, and more.

Sounds Good. But is it Legit?

The BBB (Better Business Bureau) grants them an A+. That’s based on 0 reviews and 0 complaints. That could be subject to change at any time, so you can check out their current rating by clicking here.

They do boast some pretty amazing testimonials that can be found on their website by clicking here.

Again, I want to point out that I only used these guys once, and I can’t see anything to indicate that they aren’t legit.

I mean I got my $10 coin. If you ask me, you don’t have anything to worry about while authenticating their credibility, but I can’t say much more than that from a personal perspective.

How Much Does It All Cost?

On their store, you can find things ranging from under 1$, simple small things like stands or sleeves, up to $25. Products that you will find ready for immediate purchase right off their store are:

  • Cufflinks
  • Coins
  • Brass balls
  • Knives
  • Key fob
  • Collector sets
  • Pins
  • And a few other things

Most the coins are right around $10. As far as I can tell, there is a small shipping charge. I had purchased 1 Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal Coin from them, the shipping came to $4.00 for me.

Granted they are located out west, and I’m on the east coast, so that wasn’t to bad of a hit in my opinion. I think it came to .76 for sales tax. Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m now the proud owner of a collectible coin for just under 15$.

Side Notes:

  • I would like to add at check out they suggest things like stands and displays that work for whatever you buy.
  • The belt buckles, pendants, and other types of custom items I mentioned earlier you have to call in (or email them) to get a quote on what you want exactly.

Pros and Cons To Know About

Pros

  • They boast a HUGE selection of customizable items.
  • They have plenty of choices when it comes to bargain friendly pieces.
  • Due to the cheap prices, makes them a great choice for starting up a collection.
  • Great for avid military memorabilia collectors.

Cons

  • There’s not a whole lot of information out there on them since they are newer.
  • Most of the reviews on them are listed under, “testimonials” on their own site. (Not saying they are fake, but one could argue that they are, or at least exaggerated.) My advice is read a few of them and make up your own mind about it.
  • You could also argue that the company’s controversial previous owner may tarnish the name of the new brand. I strongly feel that this should be left out of the judging, but I’m sure there are some people out there that feel otherwise. And for those people, is why I chose to include this bullet point.

Other Things Worth Mentioning

By visiting their newly improved and revamped website, which you can see by clicking here, you’ll also find some pretty decent blogs if you’re looking to learn about more about precious metals and coinage, or if you’re just looking to brush up on current happenings in the field.

How Do They Stack Up?

All in all, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet if you’re looking for a few coins to add to or start-up your collection.

The custom work appears to be pretty well done, as for myself, I didn’t order any custom work. When you check out the testimonials on their website, they are accompanied by a picture of what the customer ordered for your check out.

You can even find some of their work on Amazon (although from my searching, Amazon seems to be a bit pricier than just purchasing it from Northwest Territorial Mint in the first place.

Again, back to the custom work, if you need a custom coin, belt buckle, pendant or something of that sort, definitely give these guys a look. Not saying they are the best at it, or my top recommendation, but they do have a strong reputation with the military crowd.

Aside from that, on their site you will also find a link to the National Trade Show, so if you are interested in that, it’s on there as well.

Final Verdict

Are there better precious metal dealers out there then Northwest Territorial Mint? I think so. Are they a safe and reliable company to do business with? Absolutely.

To sum it up, and I believe I mentioned it earlier, but if you like military and collectibles honoring all the branches, i.e.: army, navy, marines, air-force, etc. then you owe it to yourself to check it out.

If you’re just a casual collector looking to add some cheaper pieces to your collection, I’d again tell you to check these guys out.

I could see these guys being a great option for having complimentary coins pressed. For example, for a youth sports organization or boy scouts or something. Since I haven’t tried their hand at ordering a custom item in bulk, I can’t speak much on that.

Personally, I collect pins of musicians, movies, retro things, etc. I know first hand that you can get pins pressed pretty cheap if you search around, and typically it’s smaller, lesser-known companies that offer better prices.

All I’m saying is I said “OPTION” not that I stand behind them.

If you have an interest in larger-scale operations, such as gold bars, silver bars, platinum, and palladium, then you could probably do better with a little searching.