Albert Einstein Collection, ca. 1945
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GUEST:
My grandmother had a sister. Her name was Lottie Neustein, and they lived in New York. She had worked as an X-ray technician for Dr. Bucky, who was a close friend of Einstein. So she met him on a personal level and started taking photographs of him. So this one here is a photograph from Lottie Neustein, a picture of herself, and a letter written to her and signed, in German. And I don't know the translation. The middle piece here is a sketch that Einstein had signed. Maybe a year ago, I found an issue of "Saturday Review" from 1955, and that was on the cover. And our last piece is an autographed book of Albert Einstein-- a biography, I believe.
APPRAISER:
(murmurs) One of the things that I really love about this is when you open up and you can touch something that Einstein touched. I mean, it just sends a thrill. Einstein is obviously one of the most important scientists of all time. The first item there, your letter, it was done in 1942 and it's tough to translate. We actually, someone who speaks German well looked at it and said, "Can't quite make it out."
GUEST:
Oh...
APPRAISER:
"It'll take a little more."
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
But what it is, it was around the holidays, and she had apparently given him some chocolate or some candy.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
He was thanking her for that. And his handwriting is very, very distinctive. And when you see an Einstein signature, it's very small, very compact. The print-- it's nice and you say it was used in a magazine cover.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And who is this signed to?
GUEST:
That's signed to Lottie's sister Alice Schlesinger.
APPRAISER:
Okay. And then the book, which was, came out in 1949, The World As I See It, which was sort of a philosophical writing of Einstein's, a very nice inscription. It's a little in English, it's a little bit in German. You've never done anything with the value on these.
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
This would be in the value of $5,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Maybe a little bit more.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
$5,000 to $6,000. This one, 1951, and this is probably a $3,000 to $5,000...
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
...uh, just for the signature. And then the last one is a nicely signed book. And again, you're probably in that $5,000 to $6,000 range because he didn't just sign it.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
So you have $13,000...
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
...to $17,000 in a retail value.
GUEST:
Thank you so much. (chuckles) It's nice to know.
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