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Flown 1960 "1 Gold Celeston" coin for the "Nation of Celestial Space" carried on the Gemini 5 mission, which saw Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad set a new duration record for manned spaceflight, orbiting Earth for nearly eight days from August 21–29, 1965. Condition is mint state. Accompanied by a handwritten and signed letter of provenance on Gordon Cooper's personal 'Mickey Mouse' stationery, in full: "This gold coin was flown on Gemini V on 21–29 Aug. 1965."
Includes a Chicago Tribune advertising flyer from January 1960, giving background information on the coin. It states, in part: "The Nation of Celestial Space…has recently minted a new outer space coin called the Gold Celeston. The Celeston is made of pure mint gold, fineness .900. It measures 14 millimeters in diameter, same as U.S. $1 goldpiece which U.S stopped minting 80 years ago…However, its weight is 34 grains…The coins are intended not for barter and exchange, but for distribution among the friends of the Space Nation."
The Nation of Celestial Space (Celestia) was a self-declared micronation founded in 1949 by American public relations man James T. Mangan, who claimed ownership of all outer space (excluding Earth) on behalf of humanity to prevent any single nation from dominating it. Although he tried to gain recognition—sending protests to governments and issuing stamps, coins, and passports—the project was never formally recognized and largely faded after his death.
The Richard Jurek Collection.
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