Limited edition Apollo 13 coins with astronaut autograph

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PCGS Grades and Certifies Fred Haise Signed Commemorative Coins

Kennedy Space Center, Florida (April 4, 2020) — A very limited number of 2019 Apollo gold, silver, and clad commemorative coins have been graded and encapsulated by Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) with special Apollo 13 50th anniversary inserts, each autographed by Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise to commemorate his historic mission. Fewer than three hundred of these coins across all denominations have been encapsulated, with populations of some fewer than 20. This new insert, which bears the April 11, 1970, launch date, has been retired and no more will be produced.

The coins can be purchased directly from the Astronauts Memorial Foundation website.

Coins offered for sale by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF) come from the official Apollo 50th Anniversary First Day of Issue Coin Launch Ceremony at Kennedy Space Center on January 24th, 2019. Only coins submitted by AMF to PCGS can carry this “Launch Ceremony” designation.

Although Astronaut Haise is best known for his role in the Apollo 13 mission, he was also a key contributor to the testing of the Apollo lunar lander. He also served as backup Lunar Module Pilot to Buzz Aldrin for Apollo 11. After being released from a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft on August 12, 1977, Haise became the first man to pilot and land a space shuttle (Enterprise).

Thad Altman, the chief executive officer of AMF, states:

The Astronauts Memorial Foundation is excited about partnering with PCGS on these historic Apollo 13 collectibles. We chose to work with PCGS due to their high-regard in the numismatic community and the safety, security, and aesthetics of the PCGS holder. By combining these coins with American hero Fred Haise’s signature we are offering a unique collectible to both the numismatic and space collector communities.

The proceeds from the sale of these Apollo 13 collectibles go to further AMF’s mission to both honor our fallen astronauts and to inspire future generations of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.

Press release courtesy of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation.

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Comments

  1. KEITHSTER says

    Already have My Apollo’s . Thought I got another empty box the other day even went for a return label which they E-mailed Me right away. But I waited till the next day for the other set to come and that one seemed empty too. So they must be in there and just not moving? Any body else order a congrats set and it feels like it’s not in there? Well Hang In There And Good Luck All”>[]<"

  2. Leo S. says

    Collectors,

    Just got a email from the Mint stating that all collector items are now temp. postponed. No stated restart date. Looks like we’ll have to wait on the 5 oz. coins.

  3. Sith says

    I did not know about these coins. I hate to be a label chaser but I may get one one.

  4. Sith says

    @cagcrisp says

    “The Fed Temporarily lifts asset cap on Wells Fargo…

    Another Lever pulled…”

    ROTFL – The Fed put a $1.95 trillion cap on Wells Fargo’s assets in 2018 as punishment for its fake account scandal… 🙂 Gee office it would be nice if you took those handcuffs off me, and let go back to my stealing …oops I mean help the economy

  5. cagcrisp says

    From Bloomberg article:

    “In an unprecedented move, the Fed also said Thursday it would move to shore up some of the hardest-hit parts of financial markets, pledging to start buying some debt recently downgraded to below investment grade as well as certain collateralized loan obligations and commercial mortgage-backed securities.”

    That’s Junk Bonds folks.

    Another FIRST for the Fed.

    “The Fed has SO MANY levers to pull”…

  6. cagcrisp says

    From Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this Morning:

    “The Fed won’t hesitate to move into new areas if support is needed.”

    That’s Equities folks.

    That would be Another FIRST for the Fed.

    “The Fed has SO MANY levers to pull”…

  7. Tom P. - MA says

    YES ! Magic money conjured up out of thin air to buy assets ! What could go wrong?

  8. says

    What could go wrong? Let’s see, deflation or hyperinflation? Pick your poison fellas, or should I say sell the rallies? Who knows and who gives a crap. The Great Depression is here and it will be televised, so hang on tight and just be glad you have some silver/gold for back-up.

  9. Biff Ticonderoga says

    HYperinflation…. as Sec. Munchkin said when he paid $300,000,000.00 for a bond for a chinchilla ranch failing ” I see nothing….where’s my concubine?”

  10. Sith says

    What could go wrong here? The fed purchases did not prevent the bonds from being downgrading in the first place, so it has no other option but continue a failed policy, or lose its shirt if the bond become worthless . If the Fed has so many levers to pull, why do they all look like the lever on my toilet.

  11. JayJaspersGarage on ebay says

    Why not just pay off everyone’s outstanding credit card debt as a reset? Now there’s a lever millions of people would help pull. It would help the little working class people getting charged 13.9% on up to who knows how much over 24% by the very same banks getting bail outs.

    Coins, what to say? Gold is great. Silver might be if it ever sees the mid to high 20’s again.

  12. datadave says

    @cagcrisp – So the Fed can keep things from collapsing but what happens at the end of all this madness? Some entities will not be viable when this is over and it seems that a debt write-off is the only way we will work through it at the end. Since cities and states cannot print money, it seems that the fed is eventually going to have to give each state X$ in order to write-off some of the extra debt incurred because of this thing.

  13. DaveSWFL says

    And welcome to the wonderful world of hyperinflation.

    It will be interesting to see how that ancient relic (gold) holds up when the fiat replaces toilet paper.

    Another lever to push….

  14. cagcrisp says

    @datadave says,”@cagcrisp – So the Fed can keep things from collapsing but what happens at the end of all this madness?

    Things will get Much worse on Main Street before this is over. Wall Street is WAY too optimistic…

    “Some entities will not be viable when this is over and it seems that a debt write-off is the only way we will work through it at the end.”

    There Will be Many corporate bankruptcies.

    “Since cities and states cannot print money, it seems that the fed is eventually going to have to give each state X$ in order to write-off some of the extra debt incurred because of this thing.”

    The Fed won’t be given money, however, there is another package that the House is working on that would be for states…

  15. cagcrisp says

    • cagcrisp says
    March 25, 2020 at 11:06 am

    Let’s See…

    1. I’m Long SLV
    2. SLV is the Largest physical Silver backed ETF in the World
    3. The custodian for SLV is JPMorgan (JPM)
    4. JPMorgan is the Largest Bank by Assets in the United States
    5. The sponsor for SLV is BlackRock Inc.
    6. BlackRock Inc. is the World’s Largest money manager by Assets
    7. This week the Federal Reserve has tapped BlackRock Inc. to purchase tens of Billions of bonds for the United States government
    8. IF Spot Silver Ever hits $18.00/ ounce…
    9. …I’ll profit 45% from my position in SLV…
    10. …Tax Free…

    Fast Forward to Today…

    Weekly SLV Close = $14.34

    22.7% Up…Half way to my Goal…

  16. TomP. in Va says

    Actual Mint News – maybe. Not that it will impact most of this site’s users, the Mint will not take phone orders for now. They will take questions (and possibly answer a few) but only online orders are possible.

  17. HarryB says

    @TomP: sounds like they are working from home and can’t get behind the firewall or take cc data from home……

  18. Sith says

    Elvis has left the building cagcrisp is recommending PMs wow, its SLV (ETF), and a closed-end fund (CEF) would be safer, but still its the end of an era.

    As a FYI

    Three JPMorgan metals traders charged with market manipulation -2019

    US Authorities Build Case Against JP Morgan Over Market Manipulation For Precious Metals – 2020

  19. HarryB says

    @Sith: thanks for the report. I always thought the market is controlled to some extent……

  20. says

    It’s a good time to start a garden, if you don’t have seeds you can still get them online. Why not learn a new skill, or tackle something you’ve been putting off utilizing this time off? it’s turning out that the preppers and stackers weren’t wrong and we all need to be prepared. Don’t wait for the media to tell you what to do, they don’t have our best interests at heart and if free money for everyone would work then we’d all be living in mansions driving a Lexus and spending the weekends on our yachts. But hey, the neoliberals thought they could just sell us out when they offshored our jobs and just printed more money to compensate and it worked, for awhile because the world fell in love with the dollar and all the riches it promised. Only problem is, you guessed it THE DOLLAR. So now we’re gonna print to infinity and save all that worthless debt which is the dollar’s problem, I mean really, we can’t have all that debt going bad. Where does that leave us? Are we the next Zimbabwe or Japan?

  21. DaveSWFL says

    Can someone please explain to me how eBay sellers can have 2020W reverse proof nickels already graded and slabbed by PCGS with pictures of the actual coin? And more than 10 available! And “only” $150. What a scam this grading racket has become. You and I send ours away and pray for a 70 yet they “know” that they will have as many as they can sell that WILL grade 70.

    Talk about collusion – here is a real example. If I’m wrong, I’d like someone to prove it.

    Another example of why the hobby has gone to hedoublehockeysticks!

  22. HarryB says

    @DaveSWFL: bulk purchasers often get their shipments ASAP and have special deals with the TPEs for fast turnaround, I suspect with prenegotiated 70 yields….

  23. cagcrisp says

    @HarryB says, bulk purchasers often get their shipments ASAP and have special deals with the TPEs for fast turnaround, I suspect with prenegotiated 70 yields….”

    The coins haven’t been sold yet by the Mint.

    April 17, 2020 is for sale date…

  24. datadave says

    @DaveSWFL – This happens all of the time. The pictures are photoshopped and they don’t have the coins yet. They know they will buy hundreds and some of them will grade 70. This is one reason the special ASE went so high is because the short sellers (sold coins before they had them) had to pay anything in order to get the coins to deliver.

  25. HarryB says

    @ Cag: about 10 years ago I was at a LCS and saw a delivery of 50 proof sets on the very day of issue, delivered by the USPS. Had to have been shipped before the day of issue. I inquired as to how the delivery occurred same day of release, shop owner said typical for bulk purchasers. Several years ago I see TPG sellers offer First Day of Issue slabbed coins, if the rules are the same with the TPGs for us little people as the big sellers, then the coin has to be in possession of the graders on the first day of issue….I always assumed the bulk purchasers enjoy many privileges us little people do not……

  26. cagcrisp says

    Holdings of Gold Exchange Traded Funds rose in March 2020 to an All Time High of 3,185 tonnes, worth approximately $165 Billion.

    The United States Mint sold approximately $250.8M American Gold Eagles Bullion in March 2020
    The United States Mint sold approximately $73.4M American Gold Buffalo Bullion in March 2020

    The United States Mint has sold approximately $90.8 M American Gold Eagle Bullion in April 2020
    The United States Mint has sold Zero American Gold Buffalo Bullion in April 2020…

  27. Biff Ticonderoga says

    Long arm, the off showing of jobs was accomplished mostly through mega corporations seeking to goose their bottom line and offshore jobs. I wouldn’t say it was neoliberals it was Neil rich. Also, despite the ETFs being touted the actual physical silver price is quite high right now can I give you bought your US Eagles at about $18 or $17 when silver was at his ballet you could sell them now for about 23. Give or take a buck or two. I too also bought SLV but got in later than you I paid about 12 even. Back to the W quarters what a load of malarkey there seen her about as often as a snowstorm and I’m near the coast in Southern California.

    🤔🍺

  28. birddog says

    I am more confused more than a sterile rabbitt,talked to the mint today she said my subscription of silver proof set would be filled,but my coinworld today said the San Francisco mint is closed

  29. Buddy says

    No buffalo sales nor fractional gold eagle sales since March. I wonder if the mint has diverted all production to 1 oz eagles as they did in late 2008 thru the end of 2009. You cant tell me none of the APs havent tried to order fractionals or buffs from the mint in this high demand environment. Also the mint only sold 350k ASEs to APs since April 1st. This suggests production issues as again the APs would all be placing large wholsale orders in this climate.

  30. Buddy says

    March 25 was the last day the mint logged any sales of fractional ASEs or Buffs. Perhaps the mints initial production run of these has sold out. I would keep an eye open for the possibility of a mint announcement of all bullion for sale being 1 oz eagles until demand lets up. Should this happen the premiums for the 2020 fractionals may rise.

  31. DaveSWFL says

    Birddog,
    They are probably already minted and waiting at the fulfillment center. So the question may really be, “will the fulfillment center be up and running, or are they shut down like everything else?”

  32. birddog says

    DaveSWF. I was thinking they may have some already minted,fill subscription first ,I guess. Just have to wait for a email,they do not go on sale till the 17th

  33. Jerry Diekmann says

    Another depression – not recession coming? The last 3 weeks have seen 17 MILLION claims for unemployment, and it could be higher because many people are having trouble even being able to file claims for unemployment. These figures are indicative of a depression coming – not just a recession. What is on the horizon now is bigger than any recession. The unemployment rate will soon reach Great Depression territory of 15% to 25%.

    Besides printing more and more federal reserve notes, the Fed may want to start taking equity positions in troubled industries. It seemed to work in the auto industry during the Great Recession, but the economic turmoil going on now is going to be a lot more damaging than what happened in the Great Recession.

    It took the stock market 4 years to recover to break-even during the Great Recession. It took the stock market 25 YEARS (1929 to 1954) to brake even from the Great Depression, and that included a full employment economy in WW II and a post-war economic boom.

    Hang on to your hats! And your silver and gold if you have any.

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