Expert: Ronald Fern - 2/28/2011

Question
My mother worked at the Kennedy Space Center in Fla. They gave her a coin that has "THE EAGLE HAS LANDED",JULY 20, 1969, a flag stuck in the moon with an astronaut standing to the side. On the back it says "This Medallion contains metal from spacecrafts Columbia and Eagle,that took Astronauts Armstong,Aldrin and Collins on their historic Apollo 11 mission that resulted in the first landing of man on the moon. Would like to know if this coin is worth anthing. Hope to hear from you. thanks

Answer
Hi Walter:

Thanks for your question. Your item is likely either a medal or token, and not a coin. Coins are issued with a denomination and for a specific country. There may be a hallmark on your piece identifying what private mint struck it.

With specialty items, such as your token, either a photo, or more of a description, like the size, diameter and thickness of the piece, along with the color or metal composition, would help me to identify it. You do not mention the condition of the item. This also helps to establish the value.

I'm not familiar with your specific token, but did find both a completed sale and active listing of a token likely similar to yours. The completed listing had the token sell for $20.99. The active listing has a reserve of $9.99. See: http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-EAGLE-HAS-LANDED-APOLLO-11-1969-SPACESHIP-MEDAL_W0QQitem...

Based on that information, I'd value your token between $10 and $20 to and interested collector.

You may want to check eBay listings under US coins be specifically looking for space medals or tokens in the exonumia category to see if items like yours are listed and what they are going for.

If you live close to a local shop, they should offer an opinion as to the value at no charge. Always try and get at least two opinions and try and deal with PNG dealers if possible. If you should decide to sell your items to a dealer, remember they will offer about 50% to 60% of the retail value. Here's a link to find one in your area: http://www.pngdealers.com/dealersearch.php

Hope this helps. Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.