NASA space-flown Gemini and Apollo medallions

Apollo 11 space-flown silver Robbins Medallion from the first spaceflight to land on the moon. Presented to Wally Schirra by Neil Armstrong.

NASA space-flown Gemini and Apollo medallions with were mission-specific commemorative medallions—often astronaut-designed—which were approved by NASA and carried aboard the mission spacecraft into orbit. Beginning with the first manned Gemini mission in 1965, commemorative medallions were prepared for the astronauts at their request. These were produced by a company only known as Fliteline and were struck either in a pewter-colored base metal, sometimes painted a gold color, or sterling silver, and were flown on all 10 manned Gemini missions. A Fliteline medallion was designed and produced for Apollo 1, but was never officially flown after a disastrous cabin fire during a launch rehearsal killed the flight crew.

The Robbins Company of Attleboro, Massachusetts, was contracted in 1968 to produce commemorative medallions beginning with Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo flight since the Apollo 1 disaster. These were purchased by astronauts and support crew personnel at NASA Astronaut Flight Office, and a total of over 3,000 sterling silver Robbins medallions were flown into space across the 12 manned flights of the Apollo program. Some of these were later sold in public auction for up to $60,000. The basic elements of the medallion design are consistent throughout the 12 medallions in the series, with the main design element and the mission name on the obverse, mission dates on the reverse, primary flight crew names on either the obverse or reverse, and a serial number either on the lower reverse or on the rim. A very small number of Apollo Robbins medallions were also struck in 14k gold, generally ordered by the mission crew as a personal memento. Sterling silver Robbins medallions have continued to be struck for every manned NASA spaceflight, including Skylab and Space Shuttle missions.Template:Sfn

Space-flown numismatic items

Template:Css Image Crop Template:Css Image Crop Numismatic souvenirs have accompanied astronauts on nearly every early spaceflight.Template:Sfn Mercury astronauts carried small light-weight mementos on their missions, often in the form of US coins or banknotes. On the first sub-orbital flight (Mercury-Redstone 3), Alan Shepard carried with him four one-dollar silver certificates which were subsequently signed by him, other Mercury astronauts, and support staff becoming short snorters. John Glenn, piloting the first manned U.S. orbital spaceflight Mercury-Atlas 6 also carried several one-dollar silver certificates.

Space-flown numismatic items are also known for early Gemini missions. On the first manned Gemini flight (Gemini 3), Grissom and Young brought 50 two-dollar bills.Template:Sfn Young also made history for smuggling "contraband" on board the flight, in the form of a corned-beef sandwich.

Gemini mission space-flown Fliteline medallions

Beginning with the first manned Gemini mission in March 1965, commemorative medallions were prepared for the astronauts at their request. It is unclear who prepared these early medallions, only that each individual box containing a medallion bore the word "Fliteline".Template:Sfn It is unknown how many gold and silver colored medallions were prepared for each mission, and how many were space-flown versus unflown. Fliteline medallions were prepared for each of the manned Gemini flights, as well as the ill-fated Apollo 1 mission.

Gemini mission space-flown Fliteline medallions

Mission	DateTemplate:Refn	Medallion	Size	ProvenanceTemplate:Refn
G03Gemini 3	1965-03-2323 Mar 1965		26 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Gordon Cooper
G04Gemini 4	1965-06-033 Jun 1965 7 Jun 1965		25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Ed White, II
G05Gemini 5	1965-08-2121 Aug 1965 29 Aug 1965		25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Not reported
G06Gemini 6A	1965-12-1515 Dec 1965 16 Dec 1965		25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Wally Schirra
G07Gemini 7	1965-12-044 Dec 1965 18 Dec 1965		25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Frank Borman to Joe Garino
G08Gemini 8	1966-03-1616 Mar 1966 17 Mar 1966		25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	David Scott to Joe Garino
G09Gemini 9A	1966-06-033 Jun 1966 6 Jun 1966		(Template:Convert/round in)	Gene Cernan
G10Gemini 10	1966-07-1818 Jul 1966 21 Jul 1966		25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	John Young
G11Gemini 11	1966-09-1212 Sep 1966 15 Sep 1966		(Template:Convert/round in)	Jack Lousma
G12Gemini 12	1966-11-1111 Nov 1966 15 Nov 1966		25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Jim Lovell to Joe Garino

Apollo mission space-flown Robbins medallions

The Robbins Company was founded in 1892 by jeweler Charles M. Robbins, in Attleboro, Massachusetts. They began designing and producing commemorative badges for Ohio in 1913,Template:Sfn and South Dakota in 1917.Template:Sfn In 1935, the first 1,000 badges of a new design for the Federal Bureau of Investigation were produced by Robbins.Template:Sfn The Robbins Company also struck the Olympic medals for the 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York.

Robbins medallions

The Apollo 1 cabin fire in January 1967 put manned spaceflight on hold. The crew of Apollo 7, designated to be the return to manned spaceflight, began working with the Robbins Company later in 1967 to produce commemorative mission medallions.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Commissioned by the NASA Astronaut Flight Office (AFO), the medallions were financed entirely through the orders placed by astronauts and support crew personnel.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Only those directly affiliated with the AFO were eligible as purchasers,Template:Sfn and they were bound by their employment contract not to commercialize the medallions,Template:Sfn as NASA was concerned about any appearance that the astronauts might profit from the flown medallions.Template:Sfn

One (or more) of the astronauts from the flight crew worked directly with the Robbins Company to design the mission medallion.Template:Sfn The basic elements of the medallion design are consistent throughout the Project Apollo series. The main design element along with the mission name is located on the obverse. The names of the flight crew can be found on either the obverse or reverse. The mission dates are located on the reverse. Beginning with Apollo 11, special fields were designed for the reverse of the medallion that allowed for engraved dates of launch, lunar landing, and return. Also on the reverse (or sometimes the edge) is the medallion serial number. The size of most Robbins Apollo medallions falls roughly between a current US quarter (24.3 mm (Template:Convert/round in)) and a Kennedy half dollar (30.6 mm (Template:Convert/round in)).

The medallions were struck in sterling silver two to three months prior to the scheduled mission, though it is unclear whether serial numbers were added pre or post-flight.Template:Sfn The medallions were stored in the Command Service Module during flight and on missions involving a lunar landing, a small number were brought to the lunar surface aboard the Lunar Module.Template:Sfn The flown medallions were returned to the Robbins Company after the flight to have the dates engraved and for a final polishing.Template:Sfn Except where noted, all medallions struck for Apollo 7–14 were flown,Template:Sfn and serial numbers for Apollo 14–17 medallions appear on the rim.Template:Sfn

Apollo Robbins medallions were also struck, in very small numbers, in 14k gold.Template:Sfn These medallions were generally ordered by the mission crew as a personal memento of their flight and were often taken to the lunar surface in the Landing Module.Template:Sfn For the duration of the Apollo program, Robbins medallions (3–7 gold and 80–450 silver per mission) were flown into space.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Apollo mission space-flown Robbins medallions

Mission	DateTemplate:Refn	Medallion	№ flown (struck)	Size	Design	ProvenanceTemplate:Refn
A01Apollo 1			0088 (unk)	31 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Unknown
A07Apollo 7	1968-10-1111 Oct 1968 22 Oct 1968		255255	32 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Walter CunninghamTemplate:Sfn	Rusty Schweickart
A08Apollo 8	1968-12-2121 Dec 1968 27 Dec 1968		300300	(Template:Convert/round in)	Jim LovellTemplate:Sfn	Rusty Schweickart
A09Apollo 9	1969-03-033 Mar 1969 13 Mar 1969		350350	25 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	McDivitt, Scott, SchweickartTemplate:Sfn	Jim McDivitt (Crew Commander), presented to Wally Schirra
A10Apollo 10	1969-05-1818 May 1969 26 May 1969		300300	(Template:Convert/round in)	Stafford, Young, CernanTemplate:Sfn	Rusty Schweickart
A11Apollo 11	1969-07-1616 Jul 1969 20 Jul 1969 24 Jul 1969		440440 (450)	28 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Michael CollinsTemplate:Sfn	Neil Armstrong (Crew Commander), presented to Wally Schirra
A12Apollo 12	1969-11-1414 Nov 1969 19 Nov 1969 24 Nov 1969		262262	32 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	UnknownTemplate:Sfn	Pete Conrad (Crew Commander), presented to Jim Rathmann
A13Apollo 13	1970-04-1111 Apr 1970 abort 17 Apr 1970		400400	32 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Apollo 13 crew with Lumen Martin WinterTemplate:Sfn	Rusty Schweickart
A14Apollo 14	1971-01-3131 Jan 1971 5 Feb 1971 9 Feb 1971		303303	(Template:Convert/round in)	Apollo 14 crew with Jean BeaulieuTemplate:Sfn	Rusty Schweickart
A15Apollo 15	1971-07-2626 Jul 1971 30 Jul 1971 7 Aug 1971		127127 (304)	35 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Based on a design by Emilio PucciTemplate:Sfn	Rusty Schweickart
A16Apollo 16	1972-04-1616 Apr 1972 20 Apr 1972 27 Apr 1972		09898 (300)	35 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Apollo 16 crew with Barbara MatelskiTemplate:Sfn	John Young (Crew Commander)
A17Apollo 17	1972-12-077 Dec 1972 11 Dec 1972 19 Dec 1972		08080 (300)	35 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Apollo 17 crewTemplate:Sfn	Unknown
ASApollo Soyuz	1975-07-1515 Jul 1975 24 Jul 1975		09393 (192)	35 mm (Template:Convert/round in)	Unknown	Rusty Schweickart

Robbins Apollo medallions at auction

Despite the NASA prohibition on commercializing the medallions, since 1995 there have been over 500 internet or live auction appearances of Apollo mission Robbins medallions. Two auction companies account for a majority of the sales: Heritage Auctions (over 200 since 2007) and RR Auction (over 100 since 2011). Between both auction companies, the top 10 prices realized range from US$30,000 to nearly $62,000, all for sterling silver medallions from either Apollo 11 or Apollo 17.

References

Bibliography

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• Numismatic Guarantee Corporation (7 November 2007). "NCG Certifies Medals from the Moon Missions". Numismatic Guarantee Corporation. http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=915. 
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