The Nobel medal went under the hammer for a record price

The editor-in-chief of the Russian Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, sold his Nobel Peace Prize medal for $103.5 million.

This was announced by the organizers of the auction Heritage Auction. According to The Guardian, online trading began on June 1, International Children’s Day, with a starting price of $550,000. And this is symbolic, since the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta plans to send the proceeds to UNICEF to support Ukrainian refugee children. The organization promised RIA Newsthat all proceeds will be allocated to countries where there are refugee children from Ukraine, including Poland, Russia, Germany, Moldova, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Muratov says:

“This should be the beginning of a flash mob, as an example to follow, for people to sell their valuables to help Ukrainians. Yes, we in the editorial office experienced a feeling of helplessness, because fighting began, people were dying, and my country, our country is involved in this. And we didn’t know what we could do. That feeling of helplessness was then, starting on February 24, many are familiar.”

It is interesting that 175 grams of gold, which is contained in Muratov’s Nobel medal, can cost about 10 thousand dollars in melted down form. Previously, the most expensive was to sell his medal to James Watson in 2014 – for $ 4.7 million. He received the Nobel Prize in 1962 for discovering the structure of DNA.

Muratov and Filipino journalist Maria Ressa received diplomas and medals of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Oslo in 2021. Muratov announced his intention to put his medal up for auction back in March.

Novaya Gazeta ceased operations on March 28 after two warnings from Roskomnadzor. Employees who emigrated from Russia launched the Novaya Gazeta: Europe project. This site has been blocked in Russia.