The Wikicollecting Top 10 Most Expensive Albert Einstein Memorabilia Wikicollecting.org takes a look at the most valuable and important items of Einstein memorabilia everv sold, from an xray of his head to the letter that gave birth to the Atomic Bomb....
News-Antique.com - Oct 07,2011 - 10) Skull X-ray
The first item on the list is also the most unusual. Many people have wondered what went on inside Einstein’s head, but one particular collector paid $38,750 to find out when they bought a 1945 medical x-ray of his skull during a Julien’s auction in December 2010.
9) Einstein’s most famous photograph
Einstein’s fame stems from his brilliant scientific theories, but he is also one of history’s most instantly recognisable faces due in part to a famous photograph. The image, which depicts him with wild tufted hair and his tongue sticking out, was taken by photographer Arthur Sasse on Einstein’s 72nd birthday.
Einstein liked the photograph so much he requested nine copies for himself, gifting many to friends. A signed copy which he dedicated to the CBS and ABC journalist Howard K. Smith sold during an RR Auction sale in June 2009 for $74,324.
8) Six questions letter
In October 1948 Einstein answered a letter from the writer Milton M. James, who had asked him his opinion on international political matters and the development of the atomic bomb. Einstein’s answers reveal his belief that scientists bear no responsibility for the use of their discoveries, along with his thoughts on racial prejudice in the United States and the strengths and weaknesses of democracy.
His fascinating answers were contained in a letter, which was subsequently sold at a Christie’s auction in December 2006 for a price of $89,741.
7) Special Theory of Relativity manuscript
Many people have struggled to understand the Special Theory of Relativity, none more so than Einstein’s close friend and Long Island neighbour David Rothman. One afternoon in 1939, whilst sat talking together on the porch, Rothman asked Einstein to explain the theory to him in the simplest possible terms.
Einstein responded with a series of diagrams and notes which detailed his theory without using mathematics, and the highly rare manuscript (one of only four known to exist on the theory) sold during a Christie’s auction in June 2008 for a price of $230,500.
6) Unified field theory manuscript
From around 1923 until the end of his life, Einstein was devoted to the study of a Unified Field Theory which would allow many of his scientific theories to be united and described in a single field. Although his struggle proved unsuccessful, his work on the subject inspired a number of physicists whose quest to discover the field continues to this day.
A Christie’s auction in February 2009 saw a rare unpublished Einstein manuscript on the subject sell for $230,500.
5) Thoughts on religion letter
In January 1954 Einstein wrote to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, in reply to receiving his book about religion. In the letter, Einstein describes religion as “childish superstition”, the Bible a collection of “honourable, but still primitive legends” and denounces the idea that the Jews are God’s favoured people (despite being Jewish himself).
The letter is one of the most personally revealing Einstein manuscripts to ever sell at auction, and reached a price
