Coins DIG

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation has recently certified a gold medal, which the astronauts took in their mission to the moon Apollo 16. The coin is called Robbins Medal. It is pedigreed to Charles M. Duke, Jr., who was the 10^th man to step on the moon as the team member of Apollo 16 lunar module.

Although there were several medals that flown on space missions, the Robbins Medal gold medal is one of the two documented medals of the Apollo 16 mission that have gone in the lunar module and reached the surface of the moon. The NGC grade the medal MS 65.

It is worth mentioning that the gold medals were stuck on the Robbins Company demand. Both were issued as souvenirs for the moon-mission astronauts, and the information on their issue was not intended to go public. In 1968 the medal series, started by Robbins, were quite often referred to as "Robbins Space Medals". These were meant to commemorate the mission of Apollo 7, which was the first mission to the moon with men on board. After that such gold medals were struck for all manned missions into outer space and there was not one interruption.

Gold medals were minted for all of the following missions: Apollo, Skylab, Soyuz, Space Shuttle, as well as International Space Station and space stays that lasted long periods of time.

The majority of coins were minted with high relief. They included the emblem of the mission and the names of the crew members, both found on the obverse. The dates of the launch and landing were struck on the reverse.

The gold medals were struck in extremely limited editions, in most case between 100 and 450 pieces for one mission. Most of them were minted in sterling silver.

The members of the space crew were allowed to buy as many silver medals as they wanted. Those who were not part of the current mission were allowed to purchase three coins per mission.

The gold medals are often dubbed "wives" medals, due to the fact that they have flown to space as gifts from the wives of members of the crew. A lot of coins that returned from space were put into bezels and then worn by astronauts' wives, honoring the crew after its mission.

Some of the most sought after gold medals of today are those from any of the 6 missions, which took place in the period between 1969 and 1972. There are only 30 gold medals from six moon missions.

In addition to the Apollo 16 medals, it is worth noting that the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation has certified 2 gold medals from Apollo 12, which was the mission that marked the second moon landing, and 1 gold medal from Apollo 15, featuring the fourth moon landing.