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Apollo 11 flown gold medal now on sale
July 26, 1999 — A gold medallion flown to the Moon with Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission, has been placed on sale to raise funds to send under-priviledged children to Space Camp.
The medal, minted by The Robbins Company, belonged to Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. Identical coins are the in possession of Aldrin's fellow crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.
Beginning with the Apollo 7 mission, NASA's astronaut office commissioned The Robbins Company to produce commemorative coins to be flown on each space flight. The astronauts then purchased the "Robbins Medallions" from the astronaut office.
Medallions minted from sterling silver were also flown and available for purchase by astronauts other than the flight crew. Only three were minted from 14 karat gold and were presented to the Apollo 11 crew members.
Aldrin's Apollo 11 medallion was offered for sale through the online auction site eBay on July 19, 1999, a day prior to the first lunar landing's 30th anniversary. The coin had been earlier auctioned by Superior Galleries in May 1998.
At the time of this writing, 31 bids had been received with the current high bid at $29,100. However, an undisclosed reserve value has yet to be reached.
The lot, which includes a statement of authenticity from Aldrin, has been marked private, protecting the identity of the bidders until after the auction has completed on July 29, 1999 at 7:19 p.m. PDT.
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