New coin marks UFO anniversary
Obverse and reverse of Niue’s silver proof $2 Flying Saucer. Images courtesy Melbourne Mint ex Art Mint.
As all UFO conspiracy theorists know, the headline of the “Roswell Daily Record” for July 9, 1947, read: “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region.” It was the beginning of what would become the most famous UFO incident of all time.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the “Flying Saucer,” Art Mint has produced a 3D, 40 mm, 40 g .925 fine silver, glow-in-the-dark, $2 proof struck for Niue. Mintage is 700.
Naturally such a sensational headline was picked up by national media outlets and rapidly became widespread. The discovery had been made a month earlier by a local farmer but it was only on July 7 that the R.A.A.F. (Roswell Army Air Field) recovered the remains of the saucer.
The following day the U.S. Air Force put out a release describing the wreckage as that of a weather balloon and its kite, a nickname for a radar reflector. While this turned off most media speculation it was somewhat economical with the truth and thus sowed the seeds of the Roswell Incident.
It was 30 years before they sprouted. In 1978 nuclear physicist and author Stanton T. Friedman got on the case. The accounts Friedman and others presented over following years elevated Roswell from a forgotten incident to world-wide government conspiracy status.
In the 1990s the U.S. military admitted that at the time of the initial recovery they had concealed the true purpose of the crashed device. It was in fact a nuclear test surveillance balloon and the only one to have survived to that date. This satisfied some but not true Roswell believers who hold steadfast to the faith even unto the present day.
This article was originally printed in World Coin News. >> Subscribe today.
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