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Sotheby's is auctioning the Nobel Prize in economics awarded to John Nash, the mathematician known both for his work on game theory and for his life story as portrayed in the movie 

.
Both the gold medal and the handwritten certificate that came with it are up for sale, and 

 the award will bring in between $2.5 million and $4 million.
The auction is scheduled for 

Nash was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 1994 for work he did as a graduate student at Princeton University decades earlier. In between, he had suffered from schizophrenia that made it difficult for him to work.


"I became first disturbed in 1959, and I didn't hear voices until the summer of 1964 I think. But then after that, I heard voices, and then I began arguing with the concept of the voices," he said in the 

. "A delusional state of mind is like living a dream."
In a 2004 interview with Nash published on the 

 he said winning the award "had a tremendous impact on my life, more than on the life of most [Nobel] Prize winners because I was in an unusual situation. I was unemployed at the time."
Nash and his wife, Alicia, 

This is not the first Nobel Prize to be sold at public auction, and they often bring in tens of thousands of dollars, if not millions.



Last year alone, the 1963 physiology or medicine prize awarded to 

 and the 1971 economics prize awarded to 

.
The prizes awarded to both James Watson and 

 for the discovery of DNA have gone to auction. 

 in 2013, and his family told the auction house handling the sale that the 

proceeds would go to the Francis Crick Institute

 for medical research in London.
Watson's sale of his medal was both more fruitful and more fraught. After 

 for a stunning $4.75 million in 2014, the Russian billionaire who bought it returned the medal to Watson, saying "In my opinion, a situation in which an outstanding scientist has to sell a medal recognizing his achievements is unacceptable," 

.
But selling a Nobel Prize isn't necessarily guaranteed to bring in big money. A 

 for the 1982 physics prize awarded to Kenneth Wilson failed to reach the $450,000 minimum bid (it's 

Arts and Culture

Rebecca Hersher

Author

On Monday, Sotheby's will auction off a Nobel economics prize medal awarded to John Nash in 1994. So, how much is a Nobel medal worth?

How much is a Nobel prize medal worth?

Go Deeper.

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