James Watson's gold medal sold for over $4.8 million at an auction on Dec. 4, setting a world record for the highest bid on a Nobel prize.
Christie's originally estimated that the Nobel Prize medal would fetch anywhere between $2.5 to $3.5 million. The winning bid was made over the phone and the bidder had chosen to stay anonymous. According to the auction house, however, the bidder paid $4,757,000, which included commissions. Aside from setting the record for the most expensive bid, Watson's Nobel Prize medal is also the first to be sold by a living recipient.
Watson received the Nobel Prize in 1962 alongside Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick for their discovery of the DNA's function and structure back in 1953. Crick died in 2004 and his medal sold for $2.27 million in an auction in 2013.
"[The price and record] demonstrate the growing strength in the market for the iconic pieces related to the early understanding and development of the implications of DNA and its growing relevance today," said Francis Wahlgren, books and manuscripts international director at Christie's.
Watson shared that part of the proceeds of the auction will be given to the University of Chicago (where he spent his undergraduate years), Indiana University (where he earned his Ph.D), Cambridge (where he worked with Crick) and Long Island's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (where he spent many years working).
During the auction, Watson watched from the back of the room with his family open-mouthed as bids steadily rose by increments of $100,000 starting from $1.5 million. After the sale was made, he said he was very pleased, "It's more money than I expected to give to charity."
Setting the record for the auction of a Nobel Prize medal also comes as a form of redemption for Watson after he was shunned by the scientific community several years ago when he told The Sunday Times of London Magazine that he was not optimistic about Africa, given "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours."
Watson has apologized for his remarks but has already been cast in a bad light. The sale of his Nobel Prize medal could turn his reputation around.
Other items sold at the auction include Watson's notes for his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, a manuscript for the lecture he gave the next day he was given the Nobel Prize and a letter Crick sent to his son outlining the DNA structure before their discovery was published.
