PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
MACHADO GIFTS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE MEDAL TO TRUMPA certain Nobel Peace Prize medal made the news this week. -Editor 
Speaking to the press after her White House meeting with President Trump on Thursday, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she had "presented" Trump with her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal as "a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom." "Is it his now?" one reporter asked. Machado did not answer. Hours later, Trump took to social media to confirm the news. "María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done," he wrote. "Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!" Before the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Machado the prize last October, Trump made no secret of his desire to win it himself, saying he just wanted "to be treated fairly" for "stopp[ing] seven wars." Since then, Trump has not let the issue rest, adding another war to his list (Israel and Hamas) and saying it would be "a great honor" to share the prize with Machado, who indicated ahead of her visit that she would offer it to the president. The Venezuelan activist previously dedicated her award to Trump. While Trump has now taken possession of Machado's physical medal, speculation about both leaders' intentions recently forced the Nobel Committee to clarify that "a Nobel Prize" — that is, the honor itself — "can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others." "Once the announcement has been made," the committee declared on Jan. 10, "the decision stands for all time." In other words, Machado remains the 2025 Peace Prize laureate — regardless of who has her medal. On Thursday, Machado framed her decision as a symbolic gesture in keeping with Revolutionary War Gen. Marquis de Lafayette giving a "medal with George Washington's face on it" to Venezuelan military officer and statesman Simón Bolívar "200 years ago."
To read the complete article, see:
Numismatists know that the medals themselves can indeed be given or sold by their recipients, and have been in several instances. Most transfers happen after the death of the recipient, but can take place in their lifetime. The Nobel Committee was quick to note that the prize itself "remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate." -Editor The committee that awards the Nobel Prize said Friday that the physical symbols of the prize — a medal and diploma — can be given away, but the honor itself is "inseparably linked" to the winner. "The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee," the committee said in a statement. Several Nobel medals are currently on display in museums around the world, the committee noted. They highlighted seven past winners who chose to give away or sell theirs, including former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose widow donated the medal and diploma to the U.N. Office in Geneva following his death in 2024. "Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize," the committee said. "Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else's possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." The clarification came one day after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Trump during a meeting in the White House.
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
The New York Times wrote about medals that have exchanged hands over the years. -Editor 
The Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov with his 2021 Nobel Peace Prize In 2022, the Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov auctioned his Nobel Peace Prize for a record-breaking $103.5 million to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees. In 2014, James Watson sold his medal for over $4 million, having been awarded it decades earlier for codiscovering the structure of DNA. The Nobel Prize has become the focus of an ethical debate about who gets to claim it after María Corina Machado, Venezuela's opposition leader, presented her Peace Prize medal to President Trump on Thursday despite the Nobel Committee's stipulation that the prize cannot be revoked, shared or transferred. It can, however, be sold for millions of dollars. Since the 1980s, the Nobel medal has been made with 18-karat recycled gold, according to the Nobel Committee. And, in a few auctions across the prize's history, it has fetched a wide range of prices. Francis Crick, who was awarded the prize with Mr. Watson, received over $2 million for his medal. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 1936 to Carlos Saavedra Lamas, a former foreign minister of Argentina, sold for $1.1 million in 2014. But not all attempts to sell the medal have brought staggering returns. The 1994 medal awarded to John Nash for his work in game theory sold for under $1 million in 2019. The 1982 prize awarded to the physicist Kenneth Wilson failed to reach a minimum bid of $450,000 in 2016. And William Faulkner's failed to sell in 2013, after bidding stalled at $425,000, short of the minimum. This exchange raises several questions. For one, I wonder if the Norwegian Nobel Committee would consider eliminating the physical medal to preclude future such exchanges. Not much discussed in the media coverage is that in addition to her physical medal Machado received a monetary award of 11 million Swedish kronor, which is approximately $1.2 million. The second question is where the medal ends up in the future. Per a Google AI Overview, Gifts presented to U.S. Presidents technically belong to the American people (the U.S. government) under ethics laws like the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, becoming federal property and usually going to the National Archives for presidential libraries; however, presidents can keep some gifts by purchasing them at appraised value or keeping lower-value domestic/private gifts, with others often donated to charity or stored by NARA. Gifts below a certain value (about $400) can often be kept, but the frame probably cost more than that, let alone the melt value of the gold. My bet is it ends up in a future Trump Presidential Library, but all bets are off with anything in Trump's sphere. -Editor 
Francis Crick's 1962 Medal
To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: Subscribe All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
|