This medal realized one of the highest ever at auction. It actually went to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission, and was owned by Neil Armstrong. The condition, however, looks a little... cleaned or polished, but maybe that's just how the photo turned out.
Wonder who the buyer was? If I were a billionaire, I might've been tempted to join the bidding war on something like this.
The integrity of the TPG would be in question if it were actually cleaned/polished. I'm guessing it was stored for a long time, but it looks as if it were mishandled, at least from the photos.
Polished by the hand of Neil Armstrong and People he most likely showed it to. I don't think it has been stabbed very long. He passed in 2012.
Yeah personally, if there were a coin or medal that say, had George Washington's bloodied fingerprint on it, I'd see the higher value in it and would prefer to have that "damage" on it (damage in quotes or not). But, the TPG grading it would have to be objective without adding sentimental bias to its grading.
