Buzz Aldrin: American Icon
Buzz Aldrin: American Icon
Property from the Buzz Aldrin Family Trust
Buzz Aldrin's New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal
Auction Closed
July 26, 06:15 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal. 3 inches in diameter, 22 karat gold, obverse with busts of John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, with their names encircling outside, along with depiction of North America and depiction of famous scene of Buzz Aldrin with United States flag. Reverse reading, “We Came in Peace/For All Mankind” along outside, with crescent moon depicted next to globe (North America), with depictions of Lunar Module Eagle and the Mercury-Atlas. 16.43 ounces.
Housed in original United States Mint case, with blue felt lining inside and outside. Gold-colored rim to case. Case comes in blue cardboard box of the United States Mint, barcode 022/704785052703. Obverse sculptor: Phebe Hemphill, and designer: Joel Iskowitz. Reverse sculptor: Don Everhart, and designer: Joel Iskowitz. Minted in Philadelphia.
*This lot will be accompanied by a MIRAImage™ NFT, a unique digital identifier linked to its physical object using novel microscopic 3D scanning technology and advanced mathematical techniques that extract the object's identifying “DNA.” The NFT will be minted by MIRA to the Ethereum blockchain, forever recording these micron-level details, along with the the object's associated metadata and provenance information for future proof of authenticity.
Directly from the Personal Collection of Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin
ONE OF ONLY FOUR NEW FRONTIER CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS MINTED AND AWARDED TO ASTRONAUTS NEIL ARMSTRONG, BUZZ ALDRIN, MICHAEL COLLINS, and JOHN GLENN
The New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal Act, Bill number H.R. 2245, approved on August 7, 2009, “authorize[d] the President, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the historic and first lunar landing by humans in 1969, to award gold medals on behalf of the United States Congress to Neil A. Armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., the pilot of the lunar module and second person to walk on the moon; Michael Collins, the pilot of their Apollo 11 mission’s command module; and, the first American to orbit the Earth, John Herschel Glenn, Jr.”
The medals were awarded during a ceremony held in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, November 16th. Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, and Glenn accepted the medals from Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. They are the first NASA astronauts to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, bestowed as Congress's “highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions,” which along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (which the three Apollo 11 astronauts had already received) is the highest civilian award in the United States.
REFERENCES:
"H.R. 2245 – New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal Act" Congress.gov, https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/2245/text
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