China issues massive silver commemorative featuring rare NASA space gold
By GovMint.com …..
In the mid-1980s, NASA sent six large plates of 24-karat gold into space aboard the Space ShuttleChallenger. The gold, along with other types of metal and materials, was installed outside of theInternational Space Station to measure the effects of exposure to the severe condition of outer space, including potentially dangerous meteorites. This “space gold” remained in orbit for 69 months–over 5 1/2 years in outer space. During that time, this gold traveled over 625 million miles around the earth. In the early ’90s, NASA brought the gold back to earth, where it was studied intensely for over 25 years.
The gold was never intended to be made available to collectors. But recently, these same gold plates that had reflected the moon daily for over five years in orbit were brought to auction by the government. GovMint.com secured this gold and then partnered with the China Mint with one sole purpose in mind: to create a record-setting new 2015 Moon Festival Panda 2.2 Pound Silver & Gold Proof. Each commemorative proof contains 2.2 pounds of 99.9% pure silver accented with a tenth-ounce of 24-karat “space gold”. It is struck to a massive 100 mm diameter (nearly 4″ wide).
Only enough gold was recovered from orbit for China to create 2,000 proofs for the entire world.
Obverse:
On this FIRST-EVER Bimetallic 1 kilo Panda, it features a single Panda gazing up at the moon lounging against a Bamboo branch. English Inscriptions include MOON FESTIVAL and 1 Kg Ag .999.
Reverse:
Features the Great Wall of China in a night setting (also first of its kind) and has the Chinese map of the heavens and an ancient armillary sphere. There is also a very special Mintmark that has never been on the face of a silver kilo coin in china, the famed ‘Y’ mintmark from the Shenyang Mint, appearing on only two gold coins before. The mintmark is found below the great wall.
Beneath both the Wall and the mintmark is the year 2015.
Chinese Moon Festival
Why the Moon Festival? The Moon Festival is the second largest holiday celebration in China, second only to Chinese New Year. To honor the 3,000-year tradition of the Moon Festival, China knew there could be no better choice than gold which had traveled closer to the moon than any other gold in existence.
“This is the largest and most exciting Panda Silver & Gold Commemorative Proof ever issued,” saidBill Gale, founder of GovMint.com. “It celebrates over 3,000 years of Chinese culture, while also having a strong American and international connection, thanks to the innovative use of the ultra-rare space gold. We are honored to have parbe named by the China Mint as the exclusive worldwide distributor for the 2015 Moon Festival 2.2 Pound Silver & Gold Proof.”
Sursa informaţiilor CoinWeek.
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