14 DAY TRIAL // This Monday, Heritage Auctions went public with the news that, this coming April 10, the Nobel medal for the discovery of DNA structure would be auctioned off in New York City.
The sale of this Nobel medal is set to be a historic moment, seeing how this will be the first time when one such prize is sold at a public auction.
Heritage Auctions wished to stress the fact that the bid will start at $500,000 (€378,544), so those thinking about purchasing it would do well to balance their finances until said date.
This medal was awarded to Dr. Francis Harry Compton Crick, along with Drs. James Dewey Watson and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins, back in 1962, following their figuring wout the structure of the DNA and sharing their findings with the scientific community.
Up until recently, the medal has been looked after by Dr. Francis Harry Compton Crick's wife, who left it to her heirs upon her passing away. These heirs are the ones now looking to sell the medal.
It is their decision to donate some of the money they are set to obtain in this manner to the Francis Crick Institute in London, a research facility expected to be up and running by 2015 at the latest.
“This year marks the 60th anniversary of the historic discovery of the structure of DNA and 50 years have passed since Francis Crick was awarded the Nobel Prize. For most of that time, the Nobel Prize and the unique personal diploma have been locked up,” argued Kindra Crick, granddaughter of the famous scientist.
“By auctioning his Nobel it will finally be made available for public display and be well looked after. Our hope is that, by having it available for display, it can be an inspiration to the next generation of scientists,” Kindra Crick went on to add.
Apart from the Nobel medal, Crick's family has also agreed to auction off the scientist’s endorsed Nobel Prize Check, one of his lab coats, some nautical logbooks, gardening journals and books, all of which used to be part and parcel of Crick's personal collection.