Amazing gold-plated Apollo 1 Fliteline medallion attested as being carried in the Personal Preference Kit of CDR Jim McDivitt during the Apollo 9 mission and later presented to the widow of Ed White II. The medal measures 1.25” diameter, with the front featuring a raised design of the mission insignia, and the reverse featuring the mission name and the last names of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee; while the reverse of unflown examples are left blank, the center of this flown medal bears the Apollo 9 mission dates, “March 3-13, 1969.” Condition is mint state. Includes the original Fliteline case.
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Edward H. White III, on behalf of his father's estate: “This document shall certify that this gold plated Apollo 1 medallion was flown on Apollo 9 by Mission Commander James McDivitt. After the flight, he presented the medallion to my mother. The medallion has remained in my family's possession since that time.”
A few Apollo 1 medallions were carried in Jim McDivitt's PPK aboard Apollo 9 as a favor to the families of the astronauts who died in the Apollo 1 fire. One of the Apollo 1 astronauts, Ed White II, had flown with McDivitt on the Gemini 4 mission. McDivitt carried one gold-plated medallion for each of the surviving widows and silver-plated ones for each child. After Apollo 9 returned, the flown medallions were engraved on the reverse with the dates of the mission. This offered example was presented to White’s widow, Patricia Eileen Finegan, and remained with her family until its sale at auction in 2001.
