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Albert Einstein

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
Albert Einstein

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Auction Date:2016 Dec 07 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, 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
Exceptional vintage glossy 10.5 x 13.5 silver gelatin portrait of Einstein with his hands clasped below his gentle visage, signed and inscribed in black ink in the lower border in German, "To Mr. Leon Harmon, as a symbol of my gratitude, A. Einstein '54.” Also signed in white ink in the lower left by the photographer, Yousuf Karsh. Matted and framed to an overall size of 19.5 x 22.5. In very good to fine condition, with areas of light crazing to the emulsion and light silvering to the perimeter; Einstein’s signature and inscription are somewhat faded, but fully readable. Consignor notes that the photo was obtained from the Harmon family.

Leon Harmon was a researcher in mental/neural processing at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study when he first met Einstein in the early 1950s. After helping the physicist set up a new hi-fi audio system at his home, as compensation Harmon was offered to choose from a set of photographs Einstein stored in a bedroom footlocker. The chosen portrait derived from photos taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1948 at Princeton’s IAS; the now iconic sitting has been lauded for its honest and serene portrayal of the aging Nobel Prize winner. Signed a year before his passing, this brilliant photo depicts Einstein with tangible calmness, exuding the benevolence and quiet intensity of one of history’s foremost minds.