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Ownership of an important piece of history becomes possible thanks to major auction houses...
Christie’s is offering one lucky collector a chance to own a piece of history valued at $4 million – a two-page letter written by Albert Einstein. In this significant letter, the German theoretical physicist warns U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the unstoppable plans of Nazi Germany for nuclear research, including atomic bombs. Written in a cabin on Long Island alongside fellow scientist Leo Szilard, this letter highlights the extremely powerful bombs of the German government. It was this very letter that led to the formation of a committee and the inception of the Manhattan Project, headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer.
The letter sent to the president is housed in the Roosevelt Library and Museum in New York. Christie’s will auction a shorter version, signed in pencil by the father of the general theory of relativity. The letter is being sold by the trustee of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who purchased it from Malcolm Forbes in 2002 for $2.1 million. In 2018, Christie’s raised an impressive $2.8 million for Einstein's "God Letter," setting a world auction record in New York.
The letter to be auctioned dates back to August 2, 1939, and gets straight to the point: "Sir: Recent work in nuclear physics suggests that uranium may become a new and important source of energy." Whether the September auction will break the record set by the "God Letter" remains to be seen. However, there is no doubt that it has a high chance of surpassing previous records, especially after the success of the film "Oppenheimer," which is based on this incident.
This invaluable piece of historical counsel will be up for sale at Christie’s auction in September, as part of one of three auctions featuring Allen’s collection of scientific and technological items, estimated to be worth $4 million.
