Plaque, Apollo 11 Commemorative, Michael Collins

This commemorative plaque, crafted by Reed and Barton Silversmiths for the Danbury Mint, replicates the plaque left on the Moon in July 1969 on the leg of the Apollo 11 Eagle lunar module. The Apollo 11 mission, with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins, was the first human lunar landing. In 1974, the Danbury Mint issued approximately 7,500 of these commemorative plaques made of 24 kt gold, silver, and burnished copper. Each of the three Apollo 11 astronauts received one and the rest were made available to collectors. Michael Collins, later the director of the National Air and Space Museum and an undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution, donated his plaque to the National Collection in 1986.