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E-Land chief pays 400K for Nobel Prize medal

March 2, 2015
E-Land Chairman Park Sung-su

E-Land Chairman
Park Sung-su

By Lee Hyo-sik

E-Land Chairman Park Sung-su has been making headlines for his hobby of collecting rare, expensive items from around the world.

Park recently added a 1971 Nobel Prize medal to his list of items, at a cost of nearly $400,000.

According to E-Land Group, Monday, Park, 62, took part in a recent auction organized by Nate Sanders, a U.S. auctioneer based in Los Angeles. There, he bought the Nobel Prize medal in economic sciences awarded to American economist Simon Kuznets in 1971.

Kuznets received the prize for his interpretation of economic growth and was the first to introduce the concept of gross domestic product (GDP).

Park purchased the medal for $390,848, nearly three times the initial bidding price of $150,000. From 1901 through 2014, a total of 889 Nobel Prize medals were awarded but only five were put up for auction, E-Land said.

The business group specializing in the fashion and retail sectors said that the medal, along with Park’s other collections, will be displayed at a museum inside the group’s envisioned large-scale entertainment park on Jeju Island.

“E-Land plans to construct an entertainment park on Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju,” an E-Land Group spokesman said. “We have been collecting rare items for display at our 15 planned museums. The medal will be displayed for public view at one of the museums.”

Some of Park’s high-profile collections include a diamond once owned by late Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor. The chairman bought the 33.19-carat diamond for $8.8 million at Christie’s auction in New York in 2011.

Park owns Charlie Chaplin’s hat and cane that the actor used in the 1925 movie, “The Gold Rush.” He has also bought thousands of other Hollywood costumes and items, as well as 30 Oscar trophies.

The chairman has dozens of sports memorabilia and items owned by popular politicians.

E-Land has been displaying over 200 of Park’s collections at its three Lexington Hotel outlets in Seoul and Sokcho, Gangwon Province, and on Jeju.