Look to 2019 for coins shaped like the faceplate of an astronaut’s helmet. As expected Friday, President Obama signed the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act.
It directs the Treasury Secretary, and thereby the United States Mint, to produce and sell dome-shaped coins to celebrate the semicentennial of the first manned landing on the Moon.
Coin Designs
The commemoratives will be exceptionally popular with collectors and space enthusiasts alike, bearing unique designs and features that include:
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a curved shape that is similar to the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Baseball Coins (concave obverse with convex reverse)
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a common obverse (heads side) design, which is emblematic of the United States space program leading up to the first manned Moon landing, selected by a public competition, and
- a shared reverse (tails side) depiction of the visor and part of the helmet from the famous photo of Buzz Aldrin on the moon.
In addition, if it is possible without greatly adding to coin prices, reverse designs will flow around to touch their obverse designs. Typical commemorative coins have reeded edges like on dimes and quarters.
Coin Specifications
The U.S. Mint will produce 7 coins in total, offering them in varying mintages, collector finishes, denominations, and compositions.
Seven Different Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Coins
| $5 Gold | Silver Dollar | 50c | $1 Silver | |
| Finish | Proof and Uncirculated | Proof and Uncirculated | Proof and Uncirculated | Proof |
| Mintage Maximums | 50,000 | 400,000 | 750,000 | 100,000 |
| Composition | Not Less Than 90% Gold | Not Less Than 90% Silver | 8.33% Nickel, Balance Copper | 0.999 Fine Silver, Balance Copper |
| Weight | 8.359 Grams | 26.73 Grams | 11.34 Grams | 5 Ounces |
| Diameter | 0.850 Inches | 1.500 Inches | 1.205 Inches | 3 Inches |
All 7 coins will bear typical inscriptions of LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, as well as their denomination and the year 2019.
Coin Surcharges
Provided they turn a profit, coin sales prices will include surcharges of $50 per 5-ounce $1 silver coin, $35 per gold coin, $10 per silver dollar, and $5 per half-dollar. Collected funds will be shared between the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum’s "Destination Moon" exhibit; the Astronauts Memorial Foundation; and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Program is authorized only for calendar year 2019, meaning the U.S. Mint cannot produce or sell the 7 coins in any other year.
Background
On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft launched from Launch Complex 39A at the John F. Kennedy Space Center carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, who on July 20, 2019 become the first humans to land on the Moon.
During the time period from 1969 through 1972, NASA completed eight Apollo missions and landed 12 men on the Moon.
Rep. Bill Posey, who was a part of the Apollo program, introduced the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act (H.R.2727) on June 10, 2015.
"Passage of this bill honors that great feat and recognizes astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, who made the historic journey," Rep. Posey said. "I would like to thank all of our cosponsors who worked to make this possible."
The bill saw the most action this month when it passed in the House on Dec. 5, received Senate approval on Dec. 10, and was signed into law by the President on Dec. 16.
A silver dollar and a dollar that is silver (but weighs five times as much). And they won’t exactly work in vending machines either. While it is great to commemorate this tremendous achievement (somewhat done by the Ike and Anthony dollars) at some point these stop being “coins.”
If one side had a different design for each denomination I would have probably bought one of each (proof or unc). But now since the designs are gonna be the same across the board, I’ll probably only shell out for the 5 ounce.
Of course it will depend on how the designs come out and translate into coin.
Given the sad state of our manned space program I would think the REverse would show a Saturn 5 impaled into the ground with the motto. First on the Moon and 50 years later can’t get a Man to or from low Earth orbit. NASA= How to pull defeat from the jaws of victory.
Obama destroyed NASA by changinging its mission from space exploration into a global warming propaganda mouthpiece spouting fake news.
Yeah, that’s why we have an active mars rover on the planet now.
Bork, keep your post on Rush’s site. NASA budget was being cut years ago, also Pluto, Saturn & its moons being explored, Comet, etc. You forgot Obama also left a ladder outside Lindberg;s house…. We have a ship coming on line in a couple years & you forget SpaceX etc.
Great idea! Too high of a mintage.
We have to rely on Russia to get to the international space station. Doing away with the space shuttle before we had a replacement was a big mistake. I will look forward to seeing these “coins”.
It is good that the congress is honoring this monumental achievement, but more effort is needed we need to MAKE NASA GREAT AGAIN!!!
If it were not for Space X and Blue Origin, obama gutting NASA would have been disastrous. They again have proven Yankee Ingenuity trumps idiocy. obama tried to kill our lead in space also by getting rid of our shuttles – which, without the aforementioned companies, would leave us at the mercy of RUssia to get to space.
And…@Whistler – the Sojourner rover and rover program were started in 1996 – long before the Kenyan anti-American was put into office. Facts are something best researched before self-invalidating ad hominem comments are made.
Lbrewer42 where did you receive your information that Obama is Kenyan? Do you also believe our planet is flat? I would think so, for you lack of true information.
Maybe it was Bush who cancelled the Space Shuttle … President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program Press Release From: White House Posted: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13404 Quote: ” •First, America will complete its work on the International Space Station by 2010, fulfilling our commitment to our 15 partner countries. The United States will launch a re-focused research effort on board the International Space Station to better understand and overcome the effects of human space flight on astronaut health, increasing the safety of future space missions. • To accomplish this goal, NASA will return the Space Shuttle… Read more »
A-H Bush wanted to put a Fraternity in space for his Frat brothers….he he he he dumb and dumber..even Jeb liked it.!!
I thought Obama tried to turned NASA into a Muslim outreach program in July of 2010 to coddle radical Islamist. Ta make them “feel better about their historic contributions to science, math and engineering”. NASA…National, Arab, Sympathizer, Administration?
Just sayin
I prefer the 5 oz coin with it’s finer silver content of 0.999 + I’m getting old and its easier to see the fine details on the larger coins without a magnifying glass. They do take a little more space to store but well worth the hassle.
I’ve been seriously thinking about getting an electronic microscope I can connect to my PC so the images can fill the screen. There are several options out there and not very expensive.
I’ve been thinking of getting an electronic microscope too so that I can try to find the one or two brain cells that create such eloquent statements coming from Crickett and Lbrewer42.
Way to take a post on a NASA commemorative coin and flip it to anti-Obama invective that ignore facts, and in Crickett’s case, make some ridiculously dumb jokes about Muslims. I guess I should give you credit for being able to make an acronym. That probably took you the better part of the day to create…
Great that they will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.
Hopefully Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin will still be around to see these coins.
“One small step for the Mint, one giant leap for the profiteers and flippers.”
Mike Mezack One giant leap for himself. Repeat Repeat Repeat!!!
Buzz is a great man and astronaut, but why isn’t Neil Armstrong mentioned to be on the coin? After all, ne did step on the Moon first.
Maybe because he was the one taking the picture?