Numismatists, start making room in your coin collection for Buzz Aldrin and the Moon.
The House of Representatives this week passed a bill to mint commemorative coins in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing.
July 20, 2019 will mark five decades since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took one small step on the Moon. To celebrate those historic strides, Congress wants the US Department of Treasury to issue four memorial coins.
The legislation—on its way to the Senate for approval, then to the President's desk for a final signature—calls for a maximum 1.3 million new bits of currency, including $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, half-dollar clad coins, and proof silver $1 coins.
Each will feature the famous "Buzz Aldrin on the Moon" photo, snapped by Armstrong in 1969 with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Stamped onto the reverse ("tails") side of the coin, the image will swell with the convex metal—meant to resemble the visor of Aldrin's helmet.
The Secretary of Treasury, meanwhile, will hold a juried competition to find an image for the obverse, or "heads," side of the coin. Members of the public are encouraged to submit their proposals, which must be "emblematic of the United States space program leading up to the first manned Moon landing," according to the bill.
The final design winner can expect a cash prize of at least $5,000, as well as bragging rights.
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Though considered legal tender, the collectables are not intended for general circulation; coins minted under the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act will be issued for one year only, beginning on Jan. 1, 2019.
But they won't come cheap: Proof silver $1 coins, for instance, are expected to cost more than $50 each, while a $5 coin will be priced above $40.
Proceeds from the sales, however, will not be funneled back into the government, but instead be distributed amongst cosmonaut causes: the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum's 'Destination Moon' exhibit, the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.