DNA biologist James Watson's Nobel medal sells for USD 4.7m

A 1962 Nobel Prize medal won by biologist James Watson for the discovery of the structure of DNA has fetched more than USD 4.7 million, setting a world record for any Nobel Prize sold at auction.

The medal was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for a record-setting price of USD 4,757,000, marking the first time a living Nobel laureate sold his gold medal.

The amount fetched by the Nobel Prize medal at Christie's New York auction yesterday surpassed the USD 2.2 million price that was paid last year for the medal once owned by Watson's late colleague, Francis Crick, 'nbcnews.com' reported.

"The bidding opened at USD 1.5 million and proceeded swiftly upward as a three-way battle between clients on the phone, until one bidder dropped out at the USD 3.8 million mark," said Francis Wahlgren, Christie's International Director of Books and Manuscripts.

"The remaining two phone bidders battled on in increments of USD 100,000, until the final, record-setting price of USD 4.76 million was achieved," Wahlgren said.

Two of the manuscripts that Watson prepared for the Nobel ceremonies brought in an additional USD 610,000 during the auction, Christie's said.

In 1962, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.