An extremely rare gold medal graded by NGC that traveled on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon realized $2,055,000 at an auction held on the mission’s 50th anniversary. It is one of the highest prices ever paid for a medal, and it is the highest price realized to date for any item from the Armstrong Family Collection™, which comprises items saved by astronaut Neil Armstrong and his immediate family members.
The gold medal is called a Robbins Medal; astronauts had these medals struck to bring on their missions, starting with Apollo 7. On the obverse side, the Robbins Medals feature the insignia of the mission they were made for, so the Apollo 11 ones show an eagle landing on the lunar surface. This design was later adapted for the reverse of the Eisenhower and Susan B. Anthony dollars.
Only three Apollo 11 Gold Robbins Medals were struck, one for each astronaut on the mission. This one was brought along by Armstrong, who became the first man to walk on the moon’s surface on July 20, 1969.
NGC graded the medal NGC MS 67, while an affiliated company, CAG, certified its provenance to the Armstrong Family Collection.