1936 Nobel Peace Prize discovered in South American pawn shop sold at auction for $1.16M

Bidder Ole Bjorn Fausa, of Norway, holds the 1936 Nobel Peace Prize medal today in Baltimore.

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.

The prize sold for a winning bid of $950,000 at auction, and an additional buyer’s commission brought the final sale price to $1.16 million.

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.