The worth of a little metal badge that validates a yellow cab in the eyes of the city has grown faster in the last three decades than the Dow Jones industrial average and the price of gold or oil, the New York Times reports, hitting $1 million yesterday in two sales. In 1937, the first medallions went for $10, equivalent to $157.50 today, meaning the value is up 1,900 percent. Of the 13,237 medallions in New York City, about 60 percent are corporate, meaning the owner does not have to actually drive the car, and 40 percent are individual, which are worth slightly less. The first $100,000 medallion was bought in 1985. When the Times reached the wife of that driver — who about broke even — to inform her of the new record, she responded, “I don’t want to hear about it. I have to sleep tonight.”
2 Taxi Medallions Sell for $1 Million Each [City Room/NYT]
