CAG Certifies Apollo 11-Flown Gold Robbins Medal from the Armstrong Family Collection™

Apollo 11 Gold Robbins Medal, graded NGC MS 67 and certified by CAG as part of the Armstrong Family Collection™. Click images to enlarge.

This stunning medal features Command Module Pilot Collins’ original design for the Apollo 11 insignia: an American Bald Eagle flying toward the lunar surface with the Earth in the background. Collins’ design was revised for the official mission insignia because the eagle’s open talons were deemed to be too war-like. The official Apollo 11 insignia design features an olive branch in the eagle’s talons and was ultimately adapted for the Eisenhower and Susan B. Anthony dollar coins.

The reverse of the medal features the names of the three astronauts and the dates of the mission’s launch (July 16, 1969), moon landing (July 20, 1969) and return (July 24, 1969), which were engraved upon the astronauts’ return to Earth.

Robbins Medals were the brainchild of astronaut Walt Cunningham, who flew on the Apollo 7 mission. Cunningham wanted to bring a medal with him to commemorate the mission, so he contracted with the Robbins Company of Attleboro, Massachusetts, to strike silver medals with the mission insignia.

Other astronauts liked the idea and contracted with the Robbins Company to create medals for all subsequent Apollo missions as well as the Skylab I, II and III programs and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. These medals were paid for by the astronauts and most were individually numbered. Many were flown in space, but some specimens were not.

Robbins Medals are extremely popular among space collectors and enthusiasts today. The most significant of these medals is undoubtedly the CAG-certified Armstrong Family Collection™ Apollo 11 Gold Robbins Medal, NGC MS 67, due to its rarity and its personal connection to Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 mission commander and the first man to walk on the moon.

In addition to this Gold Robbins Medal, the Armstrong Family Collection™ contains a number of space-flown Apollo 11 Silver Robbins Medals as well as medals from other missions. All of these will be certified by CAG and graded by NGC. High-resolution images will be posted to an image gallery on the CAG website, CAGcertified.com, in the near future.

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