Nobel Peace medal sells at auction for $1.16M in Maryland

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Baltimore • A 1936 Nobel Peace Prize discovered at a South American pawn shop has been sold at auction in Baltimore for $1.16 million.

Brian Kendrella, president of New York-based Stack's Bowers Galleries, says the auction drew half a dozen bidders from six countries. The winning bidder Thursday was an individual collector from Asia who asked to remain anonymous.

This is only the second Nobel Peace Prize to come to auction. This award marked the first time someone from Latin America received the honor. The 1936 recipient was Argentina's foreign minister, Carlos Saavedra Lamas.

The prize sold for far more than the gallery's estimate of $50,000 to $100,000. The only other Nobel Peace Prize known to have sold at auction was a 1903 medal that brought nearly $17,000 in 1985.