A rare Presidential Medal of Freedom that was intended for astronaut James Lovell and somehow ended up on eBay has been recovered by the FBI.
In 1970, the White House presented Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 space mission, with the medal, which is the highest civilian award recognizing meritorious service.

But a slight defect was found in the medal created for Lovell, who was famously portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie “Apollo 13.”

So the medal was supposed to be destroyed, and another one was manufactured and presented to Lovell, who donated it to a museum.

But, decades after the original medal was supposed to have been destroyed, it turned up recently up on the eBay online-auction site. Posted by a Pennsylvania woman, it drew a high bid of $5,000 its first day being offered online.

Another Presidential Medal of Freedom recently was sold — legitimately, by its owner — for $50,000, according to an FBI spokesman.

Posted: 04|3|07 at 8:34 pm. Filed under: US News.