I worked in the Space Program for 50 years and have several medallion coins that contains metal that was flown. I know this is not the usual type coin posted on this site. But it is a coin. Comments .
Super cool medal! I hope to acquire one someday, be cool to get a nice little collection of them going. It must be so cool to hold it knowing that a portion of the metal is from such a historical event and has been in space! Too cool.
As @jeffB suggests, Sy aka @Skyman may be able to help you since he collects "flown" memorabilia from the space program. Chris
I am sure there's a special audience that would love to have this specimen. I have several medals that are artifacts medals as they are made from medal taken from as an example a ships fittings . One is from one of the first refit of the U.S.S. Constellation made from copper spikes that had been replaced durring the refit. Another the U.S.S. Olympia built in 1882 famous for being Dewey flag ship in the Spanish Americ an war. Now a museum in Philadelphia . During the refit they used medal fromthe propellers to strike medals. And I'm sure if researched you find more...however since this specimen medal is from something that's is closer to most of us it may comand a higher premium. Especially since the materials use were less limited than that of a medal made from a twin screw battle ship. As those props were of good size. I would Google artifact medals and see if you can get a hit on yours as to how many were struck and a more detailed write up on such medals. Sweet piece.
They are pretty common if you want to find one. I worked a couple of projects for the Space Shuttle program. Many different programs were launched alongside the spacecraft. Engineers and others celebrated the work they did. The commercial side of it was generally under-exploited. If you know Heinlein's The Man Who Sold the Moon then you understand that a commercial settlement on the Moon was always a matter of will not of technology. The USSR issued tons of these little pin-back chachkas. This one is for Luna 17. This one celebrates Zond 5, Zonds 1 through 4 having failed.
First comment, it is NOT a coin. Second comment, most "made from" medals like that are made from a melt containing a LARGE amount of metal to which has been added a SMALL amount of metal from the made from subject.
Aha! So these are called artifact medals I see, I've been trying to find a name for them so I can find them on eBay and elsewhere but couldn't figure out what to put in the search bar.
There's one tnat actullly has a very small piece of the Merrimack the Conferate states iron clad ,of the famous Monitor vs Merrimack in Hampton roads Va. Very rare as well $$$$.
Congratulations on the piece! I am not a collector of these sort of items as the amount of flown material to unflown material is minuscule, and I do mean minuscule. Still, your piece does unquestionably have some fraction of a percent of Apollo 11 flown material in it. These sort of items are quite reasonable on eBay. You can find a bunch of them there for significantly under $20.
I had this one at one time....sold it for a sweet profit., not a artifact medal but very limited production now wishing we never parted company. Notice the flying canon balls.
The originals also came in an envelope with a letter or card saying that they were awarded to contractors on the Apollo project. The one shown in the original post is not to be confused with the Franklin Mint issue.
Supposelynthey were minted in silver ,bronze, and copper....never saw the 1st two ever anywhere and haven't seen another since I sold this one. Thanks it was a nice piece