The Nobel Committee has long maintained that Nobel Prizes cannot be transferred, shared, or revoked once awarded, but history shows that the physical medals themselves have, on several occasions, been sold at auction for substantial sums. While the honor and recognition associated with the prize officially remain with the recipient, the medal as an object has entered the marketplace multiple times, sometimes commanding prices in the millions of dollars.
One of the most prominent examples occurred in 2022, when Dmitry Muratov, a Russian journalist, auctioned his Nobel Peace Prize medal for a record-breaking $103.5 million. The proceeds were donated to support Ukrainian child refugees. Earlier, in 2014, James Watson sold his Nobel Prize medal for more than $4 million. Watson had received the award decades earlier for co-discovering the structure of DNA, and the sale drew attention to the high monetary value such medals can carry despite their intended symbolic nature.
The Nobel Prize has recently become the center of an ethical debate following remarks by María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader, who offered to share her Nobel Prize with Donald Trump. This proposal drew attention because the Nobel Committee’s rules clearly state that a prize cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred under any circumstances. While the honor itself remains indivisible, the discussion highlighted the distinction between the symbolic prize and the physical medal.
Despite the restrictions placed on ownership and recognition, the medal itself can be sold, and past auctions show that buyers are willing to pay large sums. Since the 1980s, Nobel medals have been made using 18-karat recycled gold, according to the Nobel Committee. Over the decades, auctions involving these medals have produced a wide range of results. Francis Crick, who shared the Nobel Prize with Watson, sold his medal for more than $2 million. Another notable sale involved the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 1936 to Carlos Saavedra Lamas, which sold for $1.1 million in 2014.
Not every attempt to sell a Nobel medal has resulted in a dramatic payday. The medal awarded in 1994 to John Nash for his contributions to game theory sold for less than $1 million in 2019. In another case, the 1982 Nobel Prize medal awarded to physicist Kenneth Wilson failed to meet a minimum bid of $450,000 at auction in 2016. Similarly, the medal awarded to William Faulkner did not sell in 2013 after bidding stalled at $425,000, falling short of the minimum required price.
The debate surrounding the Nobel Prize intensified further after Mr. Trump openly expressed interest in receiving the award, and Ms. Machado dedicated her Nobel Prize to him when she received it in October. On Thursday, Ms. Machado stated that she had “presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” describing the moment as having taken place during a private lunch earlier in the day.
However, it remained unclear whether Ms. Machado had actually given Mr. Trump the physical medal itself, or whether he had accepted it. The uncertainty underscored the ongoing confusion between the symbolic ownership of the Nobel Prize and the physical possession of the medal, a distinction that continues to raise ethical and procedural questions.
When a Nobel Prize Becomes a Commodity
The history of Nobel medal sales demonstrates that while the Nobel Committee strictly controls the status and meaning of the prize, the medals themselves have repeatedly entered private hands through auctions. These transactions, sometimes reaching extraordinary sums and sometimes failing entirely, reveal how an object meant to symbolize achievement and service can also become a valuable collectible, separate from the honor it represents.
