In a sense, this is old news, but a Nobel Peace Prize discovered in a pawn shop is headed for auction in, of all places, Baltimore.
Old news, because the pawn shop discovery was made 20 years ago, when an alert collector recognized the hefty medal (nearly half a pound of 23-karat gold) in a pawn shop in some unspecified place. Presumably Argentina, where the medal was awarded to the foreign minister for helping to bring to a conclusion the Chaco War, a war fought over what turned out to be no oil.
You never can tell what will come into your pawn shop. From the story, it appears the pawnbroker may not have known it was a Peace Prize medal but knew enough not to melt it for the gold. At today’s prices (way up by the way, thank you Vladimir Putin), the metal is worth around $10,000.
As a collector’s item, the presale estimate is $50,000. That’s why at Kamaaina Loan, we say we will give you the highest amount based on either the metal weight, the artistic value or the collectible value.
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