The Final Frontier of Collecting
Richard Jurek’s cosmic currency heads to sale.
On the first day of April this year, the Artemis II spaceflight mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center for a ten-day mission to fly by the Moon. This journey to space is just one of many conducted by NASA. On these flights, astronauts are fully prepared for a venture into the cosmos, taking with them gear, personal care items, and even snacks. On past missions, currency was often kept as personal items for astronauts or wrapped in parts of the ship with supportive messages from family and flight crew.
Currency flown into space is no longer allowed on NASA spaceflights, so the coins and bank notes that have flown into the cosmos are now prized treasures for collectors from a broad spectrum of fields, including numismatics, history, and aerospace.
One of the most prominent collectors in this genre is numismatist Richard Jurek, who has been researching and collecting numismatic space memorabilia for over 30 years. Alongside his collection, Jurek has written numerous articles about space-flown currency, authored books, such as The Ultimate Engineer: The Remarkable Life of NASA’s Visionary Leader George M. Low and Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program, and created and runs the website, the Jefferson Space Museum, which is dedicated to $2 bills sent to space.
Just as NASA has taken on a new journey, so is Richard. He is selling all of his space currency collection in the April 23 Richard Jurek Collection sale at RR Auction. Up for bid is a selection of bills and coins that, when on Earth, were considered normal currency, but are now treasures of historic galactic missions. To better learn about his collection, the upcoming collection, and how this interest came to be, World Coin News chatted with Richard.
On how his collection began:
Richard Jurek (RJ): I find these unique pieces of history. Growing up in the late sixties and early seventies, I collected coins, stamps, autographs, and other historical things. These bills, with the autographs, combined all my interests as a kid growing up.
I was a child of Apollo, and I’ve written books on Apollo, so space has always been a theme of my life. I think for all of us growing up in the late sixties, early seventies, if it wasn’t Star Trek and later Star Wars, it was Apollo, Skylab, all the space missions.
The first space currency he collected:
RJ: The first piece I acquired was the John Glenn $2 bill that flew on John Glenn’s flight, and it’s signed by John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. It comes with a hand-made hardboard certificate with a serial number that John Glenn and Scott Carpenter signed.
It’s when Glenn did the first human orbit; Scott Carpenter was his backup and Capcom communicator. Both signed the bill, signed the certificates that were done by a NASA grounds crew employee, and there were 52 bills that were (secretly) flown on that flight. They were wrapped around wiring because the capsules are a pure oxygen environment. But back then, the ground support crew wanted to send up mementos and messages of good luck, so they wrote on the bills, good luck wishes. Mine was from a gentleman named Matt Trammell who wrote, “Good Luck, John.”
On a $2 from Apollo 13:
RJ: I have a $2 bill from Apollo 13. Ken Mattingly was exposed to German measles and wasn’t allowed to fly, so Jack Schweigert was placed in his place with just a week left to fly on that mission. The dollar bill that I have that flew was signed by all four, and represents the crew of three who actually flew, and the crew member who flew in spirit. That bill has a lot of collector appeal.
On his favorite piece from his collection:
RJ: The Gene Cernan $2 bill. He and I danced around me acquiring that bill for several years… I contacted him and started a multi-year phone call back and forth.
It’s a very worn $2 bill, but there’s a reason for that. His father used to carry it in his wallet when he would go to work at the steel mills in the Chicago area, and carried it for good luck.
On Apollo 9, his father gave Jean that $2 bill for good luck because he was going to perform a very dangerous spacewalk on that mission. (Gene) carried it with him and almost died on that mission. That $2 bill was with him when he landed, but before he had a chance to give it to his father, his dad died. Gene made a promise that he would always carry it with him, which he did on the Apollo 10 and the lunar module pilot on Apollo 10…When Gene Cerner was selected to be the last man to walk on the moon on Apollo 17, he took it down to the lunar surface with him. It is the only triple-flown piece of currency that exists.
On collecting:
RJ: I believe it with my whole heart and soul that collectors collect because they want to preserve the past, and they want to preserve an interest that they feel passionate about. You don’t go in it for the money; you don’t go in it for any other reason than you love the theme.
For me, this collection represents not only that cross of my childhood passions of collecting, but also because they witnessed such historical moments as we began our journey into space, they really transport you back. When you hold these, they transport you back not only as a collectible of that mission, but as a personal talisman, a representation of the astronaut who flew…I hope that the people who acquire this will put them up on websites, show them, put them in museums, and when they have them as a collection, I hope they value them.
Advice for collectors interested in space-flown currency:
RJ: There’s a website called collectSpace.com that has been around for many decades, started by a gentleman named Robert Pearlman, and it has a lot of forums that explain a lot of things. There are Facebook groups for collectors.
Where (collectors) should start is dedicated space auctions, study the catalogs, look at prior prices realized, and look at the types that are out there. They can start inexpensively. There are tiny Apollo 11 coins that were minted with a small amount of melted metal that flew on Apollo 11; you can get those for $50 or $100. For each flight, there are commemorative coins and medallions. There’s just no substitute for diving into the communities, asking the questions, doing the research, and studying auctions.
For more information about the Richard Jurek Collection sale, visit rrauction.com.
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