Johnson Matthey / A short history lesson

Johnson Matthey dates back to 1817 when Percival Norton Johnson set up shop in London England as a gold assayer.

In 1851 George Matthey joined the company and its name became "Johnson Matthey" The following year the company became the Official Assayer and Refiner for the Bank of England. They started manufacturing jewelery, silverware and cutlery

The company began spreading out in different areas and growing quite large. It was very successful and made large profits even by today's standards.

In 1960 it formed a subsidery called JMB (Johnson Matthey Bankers) and took a seat on the London Gold Fixing board. It began branching out to non bullion businesses and lending them money. Alot of these were high risk loans but it more than doubled its capital from 1980-1984.

Unfortunately some of the loans went bad and a few of the borrower's lied about their assets and faced criminal charges and even jail time. Eventually JMB had loaned out far more than their capital and the exceeding debt caused growing concern for The Bank of England. They were worried because JMB was only 1 of 5 members seated on the London Gold Fixing it could cause panic and crisis within the British banking system if it failed.

Because of this the Bank stepped in and bailed out the failed JMB division for $1 pound. The rest of its assets were then sold off to different companys.

Johnson Matthey as a whole continued to be a successful company despite the failed loan division and had plants throughout the world. In 1989 JM recorded a profit of 184 million pounds
JM began buying other company's and increasing profits. In 2008 it purchased Argillon which was a catalyst manufacturing company. In 2010 it bought up Intercat which made catalyst cracking fluids for the petroleum industry.

Much like it's rival, Engelhard, the companys focus shifted from gold and silver bullion to the refinement of other products mainly in catylitic converter technologies

Although Johnson Matthey continued to make bullion items it's profits mainly came from its other businesses. So in 2014 JM decided to sell its precious metals refinement capabilities to Asahi, a major metals refiner based out of Japan for $186 million dollars.

Part of the sale included the two metal refining plants JM owned in Salt Lake City Utah and Brampton in Canada


And so, after 160 years of making gold and silver items, JM as we know and love it is no more. Gone the way of the much respected Engelhard now they focus on more technological centric industries.

Johnson Matthey may have turned their backs on the gold and silver business ..but collectors haven't turned their backs on JM items. Their bars and rounds have been increasing and gaining collectability, much like that of the classic Engelhard

Thank you for checking out my post and follow me if u like? I'll be showing many different Johnson Matthey and Engelhard products in the future! Cheers