'More valuable than a regular tip': Einstein's handwritten note to courier sells for $1.5m
He might be famed for his theory of relativity but it is his theory of happiness which has just been sold at an auction for a whopping $1.56m (£1.19m).
The acclaimed theoretical physicist’s two notes which outline his pointers for living a happy and fruitful life went on sale in Jerusalem 95 years after they were written.
The notes were penned during Einstein’s trip from Europe to Japan to deliver a series of lectures in November 1922. It was on this trip that the 43-year-old was informed he had been bestowed with the highest accolade in his field – the Nobel Prize in physics.
Feeling flattered but also overwhelmed by the throngs of Japanese people who rushed to see him, Einstein attempted to make sense of his feelings from his room at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
After the messenger arrived with a delivery, the Nobel laureate composed two brief notes and bequeathed the messenger with them. According to the seller of the letters, Einstein said the notes could in the future potentially be worth a great deal more than the spare change he might have handed over instead.
Handwritten advice to Japanese courier in lieu of a tip exceeds pre-auction estimate by more than 31,000%
A note written on a Tokyo hotel official paper in 1922 by Albert Einstein is seen before it is sold at an auction in Jerusalem.
A note that Albert Einstein gave to a courier in Tokyo briefly describing his theory on happy living has sold at auction in Jerusalem for $1.56m (€1.33m ), according to auctioneers.
The winning bid for the note far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of between $5,000 and $8,000, according to Winner’s auctions.
Playful Einstein photograph goes up for auction
“It was an all-time record for an auction of a document in Israel,” said Winner’s spokesman Meni Chadad, adding that the buyer was a European who wished to remain anonymous.
The note, on Imperial Hotel Tokyo stationery, says in German that “a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest”.
A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest
Albert Einstein
Bidding in person, online and by phone started at $2,000. A flurry of offers pushed the price rapidly up for about 20 minutes until the final two potential buyers bid against each other by phone.
Applause broke out in the room when the sale was announced.
“I am really happy that there are people out there who are still interested in science and history and timeless deliveries in a world which is developing so fast,” the seller said on condition of anonymity after the sale.
A second Einstein note written at the same time that simply reads “where there’s a will, there’s a way” sold for $240,000, Winner’s said.
The German-born physicist, most famous for his theory of relativity, was on a lecture tour in Japan when he wrote the autographed notes, previously unknown to researchers, in 1922. He had recently been informed that he was to receive the Nobel prize for physics, and his fame outside scientific circles was growing.
A Japanese courier arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo to deliver Einstein a message. The courier either refused to accept a tip, in line with local practice, or Einstein had no small change available.
Either way, Einstein didn’t want the messenger to leave empty-handed, so he wrote him two notes by hand in German, according to the seller, a relative of the messenger.
“Maybe if you’re lucky those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip,” Einstein told the messenger, according to the seller, a resident of the German city of Hamburg.
Two other letters Einstein wrote in later years were also auctioned on Tuesday, fetching prices of $33,600 and $9,600.
In June, letters written by Einstein about God, Israel and physics sold for nearly $210,000 at a Jerusalem auction.
Einstein served as a non-resident governor of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. When he died in 1955, he left the institution his archives, making it the owner of the world’s most extensive collection of his documents.
0 comments: