Maybe you can’t win the Nobel prize, but you can buy it at auction. 1936 Nobel Peace Prize goes under the hammer after it was discovered in a South American pawn shop. Realising its rarity, the shop owner got in touch with a US contact, and the medal was then passed around between a number of private collectors until its latest owner died around 10 years ago. His descendants have now decided to sell the medal, so the New York-based Stack’s Bowers Galleries is offering it for sale March 27 in Baltimore. It’s only the second Nobel Prize to come to auction.
In today’s market, the gold alone is worth over $9,000. As an object to collectors and world history, its value is much greater. According to historical medals expert John Kraljevich, now it could bring $50,000 to $100,000 or more.
The 23-carat solid gold medal was awarded to Argentina’s foreign minister, Carlos Saavedra Lamas in 1936 for his role ending a brutal South American war which killed 100,000 people. After his death in 1959, the Peace Prize medal “fell into darkness”, said Kraljevich.
The last Nobel Peace Prize to have been sold occurred in London in 1985. Only 94 Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded since the award’s inception in 1901.
The auction also includes the first Pulitzer Prize for Public Service to ever come to auction. The 14-carat gold medallion was presented to the now-defunct New York World-Telegram in 1932, and is the only category of the prestigious journalism and arts prize to be awarded a gold medal. It is being sold from the same collection as the Nobel Peace Prize, and has an estimated value of $15,000 to $30,000.
