Space Flown Medal

CuKevin

My friend has (what they strongly believe is) a flown Apollo 12 Robbins Medallion in a 14 karat gold bezel on a necklace of 14 karat gold. There is no provenance, but it is stamped number 128 and is sterling, along with the launch, landed, and returned dates. It has the Spanish galleon on the front along with the astronauts names Conrad, Gordon, and Bean. They also have a bracelet with what appears to be all the Apollo flights charms from them on a gold filled charm bracelet.

My friend is hoping to find someone to provide a provenance for the space medallion and bracelet. Can that be done? Pics below.

Zoins

That certainly looks like a Robbins Company medal to me. Here's some information on the Apollo 12 piece. With a serial number of 128, it looks like that one made it into space too. Great piece!

http://www.spaceflownartifacts.com/flown_robbins_medallions.html

Interesting note that the first 82 can be considered a relic medal as well.

The first 82 Apollo 12 Robbins medallions were struck from an ingot of silver salvaged from the wreck of a Spanish treasure ship (part of the Plate Fleet) that was sunk by a hurricane off of Cape Canaveral in 1715. These medallions, with serial numbers 1 through 82, do not have the Sterling silver mark below the serial number because the Spanish silver is of a higher purity than Sterling.

SkyMan

That is indeed a Robbins medallion. Robbins medallions were first minted for Apollo 7 and continue on to this day being minted for each Expedition to the Space Station.

Robbins medallions are like coins in that being made into jewelry generally lowers the value of the medallion. You can get ballpark pricing info in Heritage's archives. Go on to Heritage's webpage, click on their "Departments" drop down menu, then click on the "Historical" drop down menu and click on "Space Exploration". From there do a search in their archives, typing in "Apollo 12 Robbins medallion(s)".

With regards to tracking provenance, you are most likely out of luck unless the owner knows who the previous owner was. In any case, it should be worth at least a couple (most likely a few) thousand dollars. The charm bracelet is most likely only worth the gold melt value, as the charms are common.

ricko

Now that is a unique.... and valuable.... piece of space program memorabilia.... Where did your friend find it? That would be the place to begin your provenance search... Good luck...Cheers, RickO

CuKevin

Thank you both!

CuKevin

@ricko said:
Now that is a unique.... and valuable.... piece of space program memorabilia.... Where did your friend find it? That would be the place to begin your provenance search... Good luck...Cheers, RickO

I am not certain how they acquired it. I was just recently shown it because they know of my interest in coins and asked if I could help. I will have to get more details from them now that I know more about the medallion.