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Albert Einstein

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:30,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD
Albert Einstein

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Auction Date:2013 Jul 17 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ANS, in German, signed “A. Einstein,” on an off-white 5.75 x 4.25 “Autographen-Post” sheet. Collected as a part of a campaign to help the Home for German War Orphans, circa 1920. In full (translated): “From among the physical theories, those which have always pleased me the most, which—starting with a highly general, simple assumption—permit the derivation of many specialized results in the most varied fields (areas). Thermodynamics, depending on the premise of the impossibility of perpetual motion, belongs in this category, and also the Theory of Relativity, based on the relativity of all motion.” Matted and framed with a typed translation and an Einstein FDC to an overall size of 15.75 x 22. In fine condition, with some light creasing to the border not near any of the handwriting.

With roughly two million Germans killed in World War I, countless children found themselves without parents, homes, or means of survival. To accommodate this unfortunate population, orphanages scrambled to raise the funds needed to support their growing numbers. This card was one of many sent out to celebrities in hopes of obtaining their autographs, which could then be auctioned off at charity events to raise money for the homes. At the start of his meteoric rise to fame—with his recently published but still controversial Theory of Relativity gaining more support daily, and his other contributions to physics garnering international attention, leading to his receipt of the Nobel Prize the following year—Einstein was quickly becoming one of Germany’s most notable citizens. Undoubtedly aware that his autograph sheet would bring in significantly more money with more than just a signature, Einstein neatly penned what has become a collector’s dream—a personal and direct comment on his own Theory of Relativity, which lies "among the physical theories...which have always pleased me the most." A remarkable piece, highlighting the physicist’s most famous theory as well as his generous spirit.