Apollo 13 (Set-Sterling)
Year: 1970
Mint/Issuer: The Franklin Mint
Mintage: 3698 of 4967 made with flown metal
Flown metal: 1 of 20 Silver medals flown on Apollo 13
Additional Information:
Medals issued in commemoration of the Project Apollo moon mission, and minted in 1970, the year following the first moon landing. Some of these medals were claimed to have been "flown", i.e., that they were taken into space, and that generated some controversy. According to the Franklin Mint, 4967 sets of the medals were issued that were thought to have contained silver that was carried around the moon. Upon learning that this was incorrect, the Mint recalled those sets and replaced them with sets that were minted from a special lot of silver that did contain metal that was flown around the moon. According to the Mint, 3698 of the sets were replaced. A small horizontal line above the mintmark distinguished the replacement sets. Note however that the Franklin Mint never claimed that ALL of the silver in the medals was flown around the moon, or that the finished medals had been flown in space, just that the medals were struck from a lot that contained SOME silver that was flown. The Apollo 13 coin exchange can be traced back to the crew of Apollo 13, who brought 20 silver coins into space for Philadelphia's Franklin Mint, but were prevented from landing on the moon or going into moon orbit by an accident in space. When the crew of Apollo 13 returned to earth, they sent one of the 20 coins back to Franklin and kept the other 19 coins
