A 1962 Nobel Prize Medal for Physiology or Medicine awarded to Dr. Francis Harry Compton Crick, along with Drs. James Dewey Watson and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins, for discoveries Of DNA (...their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material), sold on 11 April 2013 for $2,270,500.00 (including Buyer's Premium) as the highlight of Heritage Auctions' Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion.
"This auction, given the international attention is received, showed the continuing importance of Crick's, Watson's and Franklin's discovery 60 years after they made it," said Sandra Palomino, Director of Historic Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions. "This medal is the physical embodiment of the importance that discovery represented and, as such, worth every bit of the final $2.27+ million price realized."
This particular medal, designed by Swedish artist Erik Lindberg, measures 6.5 cm in diameter (approximately 2.5") and weighs 198.6 grams. Struck in 23 carat gold, the obverse features a side portrait of Alfred Nobel with the dates of his birth and death in Roman numerals.
The reverse "...represents the Genius of Medicine holding an open book in her lap, collecting the water pouring out from a rock in order to quench a sick girl's thirst." An inscription appears above the figures, reading: "Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes." Taken from the sixth song, verse 663, of Virgil's "Aeneid," it is translated as, "inventions enhance life which is beautified through art." The lower outside section of the medal bears a second inscription, "REG. UNIVERSITAS MED. CHIR. CAROL," the Karolinska Institutet (The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet, one of the most esteemed medical universities in Europe, is responsible for choosing the laureates for the award for Physiology or Medicine). The initials of Crick are engraved in a plate below the figures along with the year of the prize, 1962, presented in Roman numerals: "F. H. C. Crick/MCMLXII."
The medal is housed in an elegant, yet simple, red leather case with Crick's initials giltstamped on the top, surrounded by a decorative border, also in gilt. When open, the inside lip of both the top and bottom feature a giltstamped border. The medal rests securely in a fitted box of yellow velvet with satin lined top.
The medal sold to Jack Wang, the CEO of Biomobie, a Shanghai, China, biomedical firm, who had flown in for the auction.
"Dr. Crick's Nobel Prize medal and diploma will be used to encourage scientists unraveling the mysteries of the Bioboosti, a bio electrical signal that may control and enable the regeneration of damaged human organs," he said. "The discovery of the Bioboosti may launch a biomedical revolution like the discovery of the structure of DNA. It may recover damaged human organs and retard the aging process, achieving the goal of self recovering from disease and poor health conditions. "
Crick's Nobel Prize has been kept in a safe deposit box in California since Crick's widow passed away, and was been consigned to auction by his heirs. It is one of 10 lots consigned by the family, including Crick's endorsed Nobel Prize Check, dated Dec. 10, 1962, which realized $77,675.
In addition, the Prize's proceeds will again be used to promote ground-breaking scientific research, as a portion of the sale will be awarded to the new Francis Crick Institute in London set to be completed in 2015.
Source: Heritage's Auction
