Apollo 15 Robbins w/ Spanish Fleet Silver
Year: 1971
Mint/Issuer: The Robbins Company
Mintage: 177 made with flown metal
Flown metal: 2.2 LBs of 1715 Spanish “Plate Fleet” Silver
Additional Information:
Prior to Apollo 15 the entire run of Robbins medallions was always carried on each mission. However, for Apollo 15 only 127 of the 304 medallions minted (serial numbers 1 to 127) were carried on the flight.
The reason why the other 177 medallions (numbers 128 to 304) were unflown was originally said to be due to the misspelling of Apennines (as Appeninnes) which led to a batch being sent back to Robbins to be re-struck but not in time for the mission. However, Larry McGlynn recently asked Dave Scott about this and was told that the reason only 127 were carried was simply due to weight restrictions.
However, a Spanish silver bar salvaged from the treasured Spanish 'Plate Fleet' that was destroyed by a hurricane in 1715, was flown on the mission.
Al and Jim Rathmann flew down to Marathon in the Florida Keys to meet the salvers. Al took two silver bars weighing approximately 2 pounds and carried the ingots to the Moon and back.
The ingots were given to Robbins, who sent it to the Handy Company in Connecticut. Handy then melted and mixed the treasure fleet silver with new silver and created the sheets of the combined silver that Robbins Company then used to produce the medallions that were not flown on the mission.
Making these serial numbers(127-304) the only flown "melted-metal" Robbins Medals
