Episode 1537
Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins
Tue, 2021-Jul-20 00:14 UTC
Length - 3:16
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Tuesday, 20 July 2021 is Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins.
The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins were issued by the United States Mint in 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first crewed landing on the Moon by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Consisting of a gold half eagle ($5 coin), two different sizes of silver dollars, and a copper-nickel clad half dollar, each of the four was issued in proof condition, with all but the larger silver dollar also issued in uncirculated. The gold coins were struck at the West Point Mint, the silver at the Philadelphia Mint and the base metal half dollars at the mints in Denver and San Francisco.
All four coins have the same design. The obverse depicts a bootprint on the lunar surface, based on a photograph taken by Aldrin. That design is by Maine sculptor Gary Cooper, with engraving by Joseph Menna of the Mint. The reverse, as mandated by Congress, depicts the visor and surrounding helmet of Aldrin's space suit, with Armstrong, the U. S. Flag and the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle in the reflection. This is based on a well-known photograph taken by Armstrong, and was created and engraved by Phebe Hemphill of the Mint. The depiction of Aldrin made him the seventh individual to appear on a U. S. coin who was alive at the time the coins were struck.
The Apollo 11 coins are curved, so that the obverse is concave and the reverse is convex. 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. This did not prove to be the case, and none of the coins sold out before sales ended on December 27, 2019. It was nevertheless the most successful U. S. commemorative coin program since the Baseball Hall of Fame issue, with over 600,000 Apollo 11 coins sold. The larger silver dollar won the Coin of the Year Award for 2019-dated issues.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:14 UTC on Tuesday, 20 July 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins on Wikipedia.
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This has been Joey Neural. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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