Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins

Prior to the release date of January 24, 2019, there was anticipation that some denominations might sell out, as had occurred with the previous U.S. issue of curved pieces, the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame coins.

In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy challenged his nation to land an astronaut on the Moon by the end of the decade, with a safe return to Earth.

[1][2] About an hour and a half after Armstrong first set foot on the lunar surface,[4] Aldrin performed the Boot Print Soil Mechanics Experiment.

Those two bootprints were not disturbed by the astronauts' subsequent activity, and are visible in photographs taken from the Lunar Module Eagle prior to liftoff.

Olson had left the committee by the time the CCAC prepared its annual report, but the chair, Gary Marks, took up the cause and got it included.

[7][8] In January 2015, Olson discussed his proposal with Iowa Representative Rod Blum, who referred the matter to Florida's Bill Posey, whose district included the Kennedy Space Center, and who as a young man had worked in the Apollo program.

[10] The 2015 bill was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services, where it sat; the website GovTrack.us gave it a 13 percent chance of enactment.

Despite the support of Aldrin and Collins, the surviving Apollo 11 astronauts, the Senate version of the bill had only 11 cosponsors, far fewer than the 67 needed for a vote.

Nydia M. Velázquez of New York and Frederica S. Wilson of Florida spoke of the hundreds of thousands of workers who had made Apollo possible, and applauded the inclusion of the Scholarship Foundation as a beneficiary, hoping the coins would have a legacy of young people entering the sciences.

[18] A total of 119 proposals were submitted, and a jury consisting of three members each of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and the CCAC winnowed them down to 18 finalists.

[19] When the CCAC met on October 18, 2017,[20] members were unenthusiastic, with some predicting a sales disaster and wanting to discard all the designs, but the chair, Mary N. Lannin said that one of them must be selected.

[21] From the finalists, a design by Maine sculptor and medalist Gary Cooper was selected, depicting the bootprint of an astronaut on the Moon.

[23] During the second round of the Apollo 11 competition, Mint officials had him submit modified versions of his entry, altering the position of elements of the design.

[19] The two winning designs were unveiled on October 11, 2018, at the NASM in Washington, DC, in the presence of dignitaries such as Mint Director David J. Ryder and Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham.

[26] The shared obverse for the coins, created by Cooper, adapts the well-known photograph of an astronaut's bootprint, taken by Aldrin with a Hasselblad film camera, symbolizing the first step on the Moon.

[15] Congress required that the reverse be a "close-up of the famous 'Buzz Aldrin on the Moon' photograph taken July 20, 1969,[a] that shows just the visor and part of the helmet of astronaut Buzz Aldrin, in which the visor has a mirrored finish and reflects the image of the United States flag and the lunar lander and the remainder of the helmet has a frosted finish.

"[4] On the coins, the visor is framed by the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and E PLURIBUS UNUM, with the denomination appearing in its upper left;[15] the Solar Wind Composition Experiment, visible in the original image, is omitted.

In the reflection on the visor may be seen the Lunar Module Eagle, the United States flag (made more prominent than in the original), and the photographer, Neil Armstrong.

Offspring of the Apollo 11 astronauts, Mark Armstrong, Andy Aldrin and Ann Collins struck both size coins.

Early attempts showed die cracks along the legs of the lunar lander, and problems with metal flow at Armstrong's hands.

[26] In advance of the opening of sales on January 24, 2019, it was anticipated that some or all of the different varieties of the new coins might quickly sell out, marking the first time that had occurred since the Hall of Fame issue in 2014.

[38] A ceremony to mark the release of the Apollo 11 coins was held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on January 24, 2019.

Duke commended that the issue would raise money for worthy causes and stated he planned to buy some of the gold coins.

Collectors reported minimal difficulties in placing their orders online, and although the three-inch dollar went into backorder status within an hour, figures released by the Mint showed that none of the coins had come near sellout on the first day of sales.

Dave Harper, editor of Numismatic News, suggested the program might be a failure, and that the sales figures "do show a lack of early enthusiasm already.

"[41] Olson expressed pleasure with the first day's sales, predicted all would sell out by the end of the year, and noted that no collector had been shut out from getting coins.

[26] Coin forum bloggers deemed the sales to be dismal, and that they foretold a poor future for numismatics in the United States.

This foretold a sellout of the special Kennedy piece, which was only issued in the set, but not of the Apollo 11 half dollar—only 163,434 of these had been sold as of that date, just over a fifth of the authorized mintage.

[59] The Mint did not report weekly sales figures after November 3, 2019, due to the departure of the employees responsible for them, and the need to train a replacement.

Obviously, the Apollo 11 initiative struck an emotional chord with many folks—the strong numbers clearly suggest many of the people buying these coins are from outside the numismatic community.