Edgar Mitchell’s flown Franklin Mint medal carried into lunar orbit aboard the Command Module Kitty Hawk during the Apollo 14 mission. The medal, number 0122, approximately 1.5" diameter, features a raised Apollo 14 mission insignia on the front, with the reverse depicting the lunar surface with raised letters at the bottom reading: "Spacecraft / Kitty Hawk & Antares / Destination / Fra Mauro - 1971." The medallion is housed inside a small cardboard holder, notated and initialed in blue ballpoint by Edgar Mitchell, "Flown on 'Kitty Hawk,' No. 0122, EM." Condition is mint state.
Accompanied by a signed letter of authenticity from Mitchell, in part: "This document is to certify Apollo 14 Franklin Mint Medallion, serial number 0122. The accompanying medallion was flown aboard the spacecraft Kittyhawk on the Apollo 14 expedition to the moon which launched January 31, 1971."
Each of the three Apollo 14 crew members carried 65 of these medallions (for a total of 195) in their PPKs. After the mission, 50 from the total were returned to the Franklin Mint and melted down toward the production of Apollo 14 commemorative coins that were sent to Franklin Mint subscribers in 1971. Compared to the 303 Robbins medals flown on the mission, these Franklin Mint medals are considerably scarcer with just 145 possible examples. It should be noted that Franklin Mint medals were not made available to all of the astronauts like the Robbins Medals. The bulk of these, if not all of them, remained with the crew, thereby limiting their availability even further.
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