A letter from Northampton-born scientist, Francis Crick, about his Nobel Prize-winning DNA discovery has been sold to an anonymous buyer at a New York auction for a record-breaking £3.4m.
The price, which far exceeded the one million-dollar pre-sale estimate, topped six million dollars with the commission included, according to Christie’s.
The price was a record for a letter sold at auction, Christie’s said, eclipsing an Abraham Lincoln letter that sold in April 2008 for 3.4 million dollars including commission.
The molecular biologist’s 1962 Nobel Prize medal in physiology or medicine is also being sold by Heritage Auctions, which estimates it could fetch more than $500,000.
The items are among a dozen artefacts Mr Crick’s heirs are selling in aid of scientific research.