Mould which revolutionised medicine and saved millions sold for £4,649 at auction
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Version 0 of 1. A tiny sample of mould which revolutionised modern medicine and went on to save millions of lives worldwide has sold for thousands of pounds at auction, revealing a heart-warming back story of attempted burglary and generosity. Its value might not set the lucrative world of antiquities alight but the specimen, which sold for £4,649 at Catherine Southon Auctioneers in Surrey, was part of the research by British scientist Sir Alexander Fleming that led to the discovery of penicillin in 1928 and heralded the age of the antibiotics. Fleming gave the specimen to his neighbours as thanks when burglars tried to break into his house in 1955 (Getty) Mounted on paper under a glass cover, the specimen, one of many taken from the original culture plate containing the first batch of penicillin, was sold along with two letters; one from the British-born Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the other from Elizabeth Montgomery, believed to be his housekeeper. In 1955, the pair wrote to their neighbours Mr and Mrs Bax to thank them for their help when they saw burglars trying to break into Sir Alexander’s home. Ms Montgomery, who lived next door to Sir Alexander, included the specimen of Penicillium Notatum, with her note of thanks (left) as a “souvenir of the Fleming family”. Her letter ended: “As though you didn’t know – but just in case – this said affair is a blob of the original mould of penicillin, not to be confused with Gorgonzola cheese!!!” Sir Alexander’s hand-written letter is dated 8 March 1955, just three days before he died at his London home after a heart attack. He wrote: “I have to thank you for a great service when on Saturday night you scared the burglars and saved my safe and its contents. “I should have been very sorry to have lost all the service medals which have been given to me and after this experience I do not trust the safe – they are in the bank. Fleming discovered penicillin by chance when he was seeking a cure to infections. Apparently, a spore floated in through his laboratory window and landed on one of the culture plates on which he was working. When he came to tidy up the lab, he noticed a lump of mould which had halted the growth of bacteria. However, it was not until the 1940s that the incredible scope of his world-changing mould became fully apparent and he was awarded the Nobel Prize, after which he warned of the potential overuse use of penicillin in speeches, cautioning not to use the drug unless there was a properly diagnosed reason for it to be used. It was left to fellow scientists Howard Florey and Sir Ernst Boris to perfect mass-production of the drug in time for the Second World War. By D-Day in 1944 they had helped to produce enough of the new wonder drug to treat all Allied serviceman injured in the conflict. The sample sold is just one of many taken from the original culture plate, which is now preserved at the British Library. From this Fleming is thought to have taken many samples, which he gave to celebrities and dignitaries he met, including Prince Philip, the Queen Mother and Winston Churchill. In 2002, Fleming was named in the BBC’s list of the 100 Greatest Britons following a nationwide vote. |