Autographs
Including documents signed by celebrities
Not including Chinese calligraphy
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Political writing Development of USA US Civil War Medicine Sport Sport II Origins of sports Olympic Games Sport document Basketball Sciences Ancient science Physics Astronomy Music
Chronology : 16th century 1500-1519 1780-1789
Not including Chinese calligraphy
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Political writing Development of USA US Civil War Medicine Sport Sport II Origins of sports Olympic Games Sport document Basketball Sciences Ancient science Physics Astronomy Music
Chronology : 16th century 1500-1519 1780-1789
1510 The Codex Leicester of Leonardo da Vinci
1994 SOLD for $ 31M by Christie's
From 1475 Leonardo da Vinci recorded everyday all his ideas about the nature of the world in its whole variety, in the form of notes in ancient Italian language illustrated with sketches. In this polygraphic bulimia, he accumulated about 13,000 pages, on double-sided sheets folded in half.
Leonardo is neither a scientist nor an engineer in the modern meaning of these terms. He does not waste his time analyzing the consequences of his theories or conceiving the realization of his inventions. In his swarming of ideas, he could be wonderfully right and naively wrong, and he was certainly unable to distinguish between these two extremes.
For this left-hander, the mirror writing is the way he has found so that his thinking is not slowed down by his hand. The use of numerous abbreviations, which makes these texts extremely difficult to decipher, is consistent with this hypothesis. We will never know how he desired exploiting such a unique mass of informations.
These writings were later assembled into notebooks, identified under the more technical term of codex. The Codex Leicester is the only one remaining in private hands. It was sold by Christie's for $ 5.1M on December 12, 1980 and for $ 31M on November 11, 1994. Between these two sales it was named the Codex Hammer. It was bought by Bill Gates at the last auction. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The Codex Leicester is made up of 18 double sheets of parchment for a total of 72 pages 22 x 30 cm. It brings together his notes written around 1510 on the theme of the water movements. The author imagines that his ideas could be used for the design of bridges.
His observation on the presence of fossils in the mountains brings an explanation far ahead of his time : they were originally in a seabed which was raised by a geophysical phenomenon. This hypothesis is all the more remarkable since the monotheistic religions of his time do not question the creationism.
In the same notebook, he explains the luminosity of the Moon by the reflection of sunlight on its surface entirely covered with water.
Leonardo is neither a scientist nor an engineer in the modern meaning of these terms. He does not waste his time analyzing the consequences of his theories or conceiving the realization of his inventions. In his swarming of ideas, he could be wonderfully right and naively wrong, and he was certainly unable to distinguish between these two extremes.
For this left-hander, the mirror writing is the way he has found so that his thinking is not slowed down by his hand. The use of numerous abbreviations, which makes these texts extremely difficult to decipher, is consistent with this hypothesis. We will never know how he desired exploiting such a unique mass of informations.
These writings were later assembled into notebooks, identified under the more technical term of codex. The Codex Leicester is the only one remaining in private hands. It was sold by Christie's for $ 5.1M on December 12, 1980 and for $ 31M on November 11, 1994. Between these two sales it was named the Codex Hammer. It was bought by Bill Gates at the last auction. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The Codex Leicester is made up of 18 double sheets of parchment for a total of 72 pages 22 x 30 cm. It brings together his notes written around 1510 on the theme of the water movements. The author imagines that his ideas could be used for the design of bridges.
His observation on the presence of fossils in the mountains brings an explanation far ahead of his time : they were originally in a seabed which was raised by a geophysical phenomenon. This hypothesis is all the more remarkable since the monotheistic religions of his time do not question the creationism.
In the same notebook, he explains the luminosity of the Moon by the reflection of sunlight on its surface entirely covered with water.
masterpiece
1785 Les 120 Journées de Sodome by Sade
Etat Français
When he was a young aristocrat the marquis de Sade believed that anything could be allowed to him within the false stage of his own life. He had no consideration excepted for himself. Increasingly serious sex scandals are emerging in his wake. He is jailed by lettre de cachet in 1777 at the request of his family anxious to protect him from his own "sadistic" perversions.
Transferred in 1784 to the Bastille after a reassignment of the dungeon of Vincennes, Sade is then nobody more than Monsieur le 6 according to the number of his cell. His energy and his hate have not weakened and a liberation is unthinkable. He will never retrieve the freedom of Gilles de Rais or Elisabeth Bathory. He becomes a writer. He wants to be the most impure of all writers.
His first project of book is a catalog of perversions for which he is inspired by the narrative structure of the Decameron. In an abject absence of humanism, girls and boys are toys of torture and death for the sexual pleasure of the masters. The title, Les 120 Journées de Sodome, is an allusion to the 1,001 Arabian Nights.
In October 1785 the draft of the first part is finished. Despite his isolation, Sade fears a confiscation. He copies his text into a tiny and tight writing on 11.3 cm narrow sheets. The set to be kept in a tube is an assembly of 33 sheets glued end to end for a total length of 12.10 m. The top sheets of the roll are inscribed on both sides.
Sade had worked for no result. A few days before the Bastille day of July 14, 1789 he manages through the bars of his cell to add his vociferation within the growing popular discontent. His presence at the Bastille is considered as a threat to security and he is transferred to the hospice of Charenton without being allowed to take anything with him. He will never see again this manuscript of his most atrocious frenzies.
Long considered as lost, the manuscript is the subject of a first edition by a German psychiatrist in 1904. Recovered by a descendant of Sade, it is stolen in 1982 and acquired by a collector of erotic literature, legally under Swiss law and illegally according to French law. Its purchase by the Aristophil company with significant monetary compensation to all involved parties was acclaimed by the press in 2014.
This scroll unique in its theme, format, author and history was a major piece in the liquidation of Aristophil, listed with an estimate of € 4M by Aguttes on December 20, 2017, lot 39. Please watch the video shared by Aguttes. The image below is shared by Wikimedia. It was classified as Trésor national and withdrawn before the sale. It was acquired by the Etat Français in 2021.
Transferred in 1784 to the Bastille after a reassignment of the dungeon of Vincennes, Sade is then nobody more than Monsieur le 6 according to the number of his cell. His energy and his hate have not weakened and a liberation is unthinkable. He will never retrieve the freedom of Gilles de Rais or Elisabeth Bathory. He becomes a writer. He wants to be the most impure of all writers.
His first project of book is a catalog of perversions for which he is inspired by the narrative structure of the Decameron. In an abject absence of humanism, girls and boys are toys of torture and death for the sexual pleasure of the masters. The title, Les 120 Journées de Sodome, is an allusion to the 1,001 Arabian Nights.
In October 1785 the draft of the first part is finished. Despite his isolation, Sade fears a confiscation. He copies his text into a tiny and tight writing on 11.3 cm narrow sheets. The set to be kept in a tube is an assembly of 33 sheets glued end to end for a total length of 12.10 m. The top sheets of the roll are inscribed on both sides.
Sade had worked for no result. A few days before the Bastille day of July 14, 1789 he manages through the bars of his cell to add his vociferation within the growing popular discontent. His presence at the Bastille is considered as a threat to security and he is transferred to the hospice of Charenton without being allowed to take anything with him. He will never see again this manuscript of his most atrocious frenzies.
Long considered as lost, the manuscript is the subject of a first edition by a German psychiatrist in 1904. Recovered by a descendant of Sade, it is stolen in 1982 and acquired by a collector of erotic literature, legally under Swiss law and illegally according to French law. Its purchase by the Aristophil company with significant monetary compensation to all involved parties was acclaimed by the press in 2014.
This scroll unique in its theme, format, author and history was a major piece in the liquidation of Aristophil, listed with an estimate of € 4M by Aguttes on December 20, 2017, lot 39. Please watch the video shared by Aguttes. The image below is shared by Wikimedia. It was classified as Trésor national and withdrawn before the sale. It was acquired by the Etat Français in 2021.
#LT : Pièce phare des Collections #Aristophil : le rouleau manuscrit « Les 120 journées de Sodome ou l'école du Libertinage » rédigé par le Marquis de Sade dans les cellules de la prison de la Bastille. Estimation 4 000 000 / 6 000 000 € pic.twitter.com/z1zFkL8QsQ
— claude Aguttes (@CAguttes) November 14, 2017
1789 Acts of Congress
2012 SOLD for $ 9.8M by Christie's
During the ten years following the Declaration of Independence of the United States, the Congress sets up a code known as the Articles of Confederation to manage the relations between the states. Too idealistic, this first law is a failure.
The founders of the nation are now trying to redefine the delicate balance between the executive and legislative branches while considering also the need for autonomy of each state. Their work is outstanding, since the system defined between 1787 and 1789 is still the foundation of the US law.
George Washington is one of the key figures in this success. On June 22, 2012, Christie's sold for $ 9.8M his personal copy of the main acts of Congress, lot 1. It gathers the Constitution, various acts including the creation of major Executive Departments, and the first draft of twelve articles known as the Bill of Rights for an effective and pragmatic definition of freedoms.
This collection was a working document for the new President. It is also a much valuable autograph : signed on the title page, it includes handwritten notes in the margin of several acts.
These 53 sheets 30 x 19 cm from 1789 are assembled in a binding probably made in the same year. They are in excellent condition.
Please watch the video shared by Fox News :
The founders of the nation are now trying to redefine the delicate balance between the executive and legislative branches while considering also the need for autonomy of each state. Their work is outstanding, since the system defined between 1787 and 1789 is still the foundation of the US law.
George Washington is one of the key figures in this success. On June 22, 2012, Christie's sold for $ 9.8M his personal copy of the main acts of Congress, lot 1. It gathers the Constitution, various acts including the creation of major Executive Departments, and the first draft of twelve articles known as the Bill of Rights for an effective and pragmatic definition of freedoms.
This collection was a working document for the new President. It is also a much valuable autograph : signed on the title page, it includes handwritten notes in the margin of several acts.
These 53 sheets 30 x 19 cm from 1789 are assembled in a binding probably made in the same year. They are in excellent condition.
Please watch the video shared by Fox News :
1864 Emancipation Proclamation
2010 SOLD for $ 3.8M by Sotheby's
On 22 September 1862, President Lincoln issued an ultimatum to the secessionist states : slavery shall be abolished on January 1 in all states that will not come back into the Union before that date.
At the promised date, January 1, 1863, Lincoln proclaimed an executive order abolishing slavery in the ten states on which he had no control.
Of course, this statement was not sufficient to end the US Civil War. In mid 1864, charity gatherings organized by the US Sanitary Commission are held everywhere to support the Union troops.
The President, always ready for personal commitment, then accepts the project of the authorized edition of the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the initiatives to raise funds.
The document consists of a title and 52 lines of text printed in a single page on a watermarked Whatman paper sheet 55 x 44 cm. The typed field is 37.4 x 17 cm.
The 48 copies edited by Leland and Boker bear the signatures of Abraham Lincoln, of the Secretary of State William Seward and of John Nicolay, private secretary to the President, certifying the authenticity of the other two autographs. They were made available for purchase with a price tag of $ 10 each at the Great Central Sanitary Fair in Philadelphia in June 1864. 27 copies are surviving as of 2025, including 18 kept in institutions.
That strategy confirms that in the mind of Lincoln the end of slavery is a main issue of the Civil War beside saving the Union. Without alienating the states loyal to the Union, it gave such a boost to the slaves that their emancipation had no more obstacles, entering into the constitution through the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.
One hundred years after the Emancipation, the Kennedy brothers are considering new advances for civil rights. The murder of the President does not slow down the ardor of his brother. In 1964, Robert Kennedy bought at auction at Parke-Bernet a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln and Seward.
This ex Kennedy document was sold for $ 3.8M on December 10, 2010 by Sotheby's, Parke-Bernet's successor. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
At the promised date, January 1, 1863, Lincoln proclaimed an executive order abolishing slavery in the ten states on which he had no control.
Of course, this statement was not sufficient to end the US Civil War. In mid 1864, charity gatherings organized by the US Sanitary Commission are held everywhere to support the Union troops.
The President, always ready for personal commitment, then accepts the project of the authorized edition of the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the initiatives to raise funds.
The document consists of a title and 52 lines of text printed in a single page on a watermarked Whatman paper sheet 55 x 44 cm. The typed field is 37.4 x 17 cm.
The 48 copies edited by Leland and Boker bear the signatures of Abraham Lincoln, of the Secretary of State William Seward and of John Nicolay, private secretary to the President, certifying the authenticity of the other two autographs. They were made available for purchase with a price tag of $ 10 each at the Great Central Sanitary Fair in Philadelphia in June 1864. 27 copies are surviving as of 2025, including 18 kept in institutions.
That strategy confirms that in the mind of Lincoln the end of slavery is a main issue of the Civil War beside saving the Union. Without alienating the states loyal to the Union, it gave such a boost to the slaves that their emancipation had no more obstacles, entering into the constitution through the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.
One hundred years after the Emancipation, the Kennedy brothers are considering new advances for civil rights. The murder of the President does not slow down the ardor of his brother. In 1964, Robert Kennedy bought at auction at Parke-Bernet a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln and Seward.
This ex Kennedy document was sold for $ 3.8M on December 10, 2010 by Sotheby's, Parke-Bernet's successor. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1888 A Letter with a Drawing of La Maison Jaune by van Gogh
2013 SOLD for $ 5.5M by Christie's
Vincent van Gogh wrote a lot. He thus provided posterity with a direct testimony on his incomparable creativity, on his projects and on his problems.
Arriving in Arles on February 20, 1888, Vincent first stayed at the hotel. The atmosphere was pleasing him and he wanted to install his accommodation and his workshop by the town. He was seduced by a house with yellow walls that he could rent for a low price : it had been vacant for a long time and was fairly decrepit.
His enthusiasm is growing. He set up his workshop in the Maison Jaune, waits for the scheduled connection of town gas which will improve his working conditions, and chooses to invite an artist with whom he feels affinities : Paul Gauguin.
On November 5, 2013, Christie's sold an autograph sheet 13.4 x 20.6 cm for $ 5.5M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The back page is the end of a letter, including a praise of Gauguin and wishes of health improvement for Theo. Vincent rarely dated his letters. This document is the fifth page of a letter sent to his brother around September 29, 1888.
The front is a full page ink drawing showing the Maison Jaune with lots of small details and a good animation. This image is a copy of an oil painting he had just made. The artist has not overlooked the long awaited earthworks of the gas companies. He wants to show Theo that his new living environment is ready for an unprecedented artistic adventure.
Gauguin agreed : he knocks on the door of the Maison Jaune on October 24, 1888.
Arriving in Arles on February 20, 1888, Vincent first stayed at the hotel. The atmosphere was pleasing him and he wanted to install his accommodation and his workshop by the town. He was seduced by a house with yellow walls that he could rent for a low price : it had been vacant for a long time and was fairly decrepit.
His enthusiasm is growing. He set up his workshop in the Maison Jaune, waits for the scheduled connection of town gas which will improve his working conditions, and chooses to invite an artist with whom he feels affinities : Paul Gauguin.
On November 5, 2013, Christie's sold an autograph sheet 13.4 x 20.6 cm for $ 5.5M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The back page is the end of a letter, including a praise of Gauguin and wishes of health improvement for Theo. Vincent rarely dated his letters. This document is the fifth page of a letter sent to his brother around September 29, 1888.
The front is a full page ink drawing showing the Maison Jaune with lots of small details and a good animation. This image is a copy of an oil painting he had just made. The artist has not overlooked the long awaited earthworks of the gas companies. He wants to show Theo that his new living environment is ready for an unprecedented artistic adventure.
Gauguin agreed : he knocks on the door of the Maison Jaune on October 24, 1888.
1891 Founding Rules of Basket Ball
2010 SOLD for $ 4.3M by Sotheby's
Basketball (originally spelled Basket-Ball) is a sport of flexibility and skill. It was created in 1891 in the United States, a little late compared to other competitive sports whose growth is linked to the development of transportation.
By design, it is not a rough sport. The idea of the inventor, the Canadian James Naismith, was to occupy without risk of injury the sportsmen in winter, when weather conditions do not allow to play baseball or football.
The elevated position of the baskets gives a specific interest to this sport that does not invite to physical contact. One can argue whether similar sports existed before basketball and inspired Naismit. No matter: the basketball based on his thirteen rules has become one of the most popular sports due to the simplicity of its required equipment.
Naismith had typed these thirteen rules, in two sheets that he modified by hand writing and signed. His family, who had kept this precious document, sells it at Sotheby's on December 10, 2010 for the benefit of a Canadian foundation that spreads the ideals of sportsmanship of the inventor. It was sold for $ 4.3M from an estimate of $ 2M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The invention of basketball was arguably a major act of modern history, one of those advances that have impacted the lives and behavior of millions of people.
By design, it is not a rough sport. The idea of the inventor, the Canadian James Naismith, was to occupy without risk of injury the sportsmen in winter, when weather conditions do not allow to play baseball or football.
The elevated position of the baskets gives a specific interest to this sport that does not invite to physical contact. One can argue whether similar sports existed before basketball and inspired Naismit. No matter: the basketball based on his thirteen rules has become one of the most popular sports due to the simplicity of its required equipment.
Naismith had typed these thirteen rules, in two sheets that he modified by hand writing and signed. His family, who had kept this precious document, sells it at Sotheby's on December 10, 2010 for the benefit of a Canadian foundation that spreads the ideals of sportsmanship of the inventor. It was sold for $ 4.3M from an estimate of $ 2M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The invention of basketball was arguably a major act of modern history, one of those advances that have impacted the lives and behavior of millions of people.
1892 Coubertin's Olympic Address
2019 SOLD for $ 8.8M by Sotheby's
In 1888 the 25-year-old publicist Pierre de Coubertin decides to concentrate all his efforts on the integration of sport into educational systems. Traumatized by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he sees sport as a means to ensure peace in the world. The moment is good : the extension of the railroad has favored inter-city sports confrontations in several countries, and the telegraph facilitates the preparations.
With a remarkable open-mindedness, Coubertin compares the progress of sport in several countries. In England, the country of the fair play, football is a team sport practiced in colleges, including Rugby, and the establishment of official rules allows competitions. In Sweden the mental benefit of gymnastics is officially recognized. In the United States, sport opens the way to the practice of collective recreation. He does not like the use of sport for military training in Germany but recognizes its heroic character.
The time is also favorable for meetings of thematic clubs in England and France. They will support the development of the Coubertin project. In 1891 he promulgates a motto : citius, fortius, altius (later modified in its sequence). Coubertin is setting the example : on March 20, 1892 he is the referee in the final of the first French rugby championship.
Taking as a pretext the fifth anniversary of a running club, a conference is organized at the Sorbonne on November 25, 1892, with three speakers. Bourdon and Jusserand tell the history of the sport. Coubertin, entrusted for dealing with modern sport, concludes his speech by proposing the reestablishment of the Olympic Games.
In this seminal address, Coubertin's vision is universal. The most developed nations will help the others. It is a matter of practicing sports in common between athletes of all nations with a search for the individual excellence, but not yet of international competition or rewards.
The autograph draft of this Coubertin thesis, largely modified by the author in the preparation phase, was sold for $ 8.8M from an estimate of $ 700K by Sotheby's on December 18, 2019, lot 173.
Very remarkably, despite necessarily different visions of his international interlocutors, it is Coubertin himself who will concretize his concept. A January 1894 autograph document defining the stadium and sports passed at Goldin Auctions on October 29, 2016. In June 1894, Pierre de Coubertin creates the International Olympic Committee.
With a remarkable open-mindedness, Coubertin compares the progress of sport in several countries. In England, the country of the fair play, football is a team sport practiced in colleges, including Rugby, and the establishment of official rules allows competitions. In Sweden the mental benefit of gymnastics is officially recognized. In the United States, sport opens the way to the practice of collective recreation. He does not like the use of sport for military training in Germany but recognizes its heroic character.
The time is also favorable for meetings of thematic clubs in England and France. They will support the development of the Coubertin project. In 1891 he promulgates a motto : citius, fortius, altius (later modified in its sequence). Coubertin is setting the example : on March 20, 1892 he is the referee in the final of the first French rugby championship.
Taking as a pretext the fifth anniversary of a running club, a conference is organized at the Sorbonne on November 25, 1892, with three speakers. Bourdon and Jusserand tell the history of the sport. Coubertin, entrusted for dealing with modern sport, concludes his speech by proposing the reestablishment of the Olympic Games.
In this seminal address, Coubertin's vision is universal. The most developed nations will help the others. It is a matter of practicing sports in common between athletes of all nations with a search for the individual excellence, but not yet of international competition or rewards.
The autograph draft of this Coubertin thesis, largely modified by the author in the preparation phase, was sold for $ 8.8M from an estimate of $ 700K by Sotheby's on December 18, 2019, lot 173.
Very remarkably, despite necessarily different visions of his international interlocutors, it is Coubertin himself who will concretize his concept. A January 1894 autograph document defining the stadium and sports passed at Goldin Auctions on October 29, 2016. In June 1894, Pierre de Coubertin creates the International Olympic Committee.
#AuctionUpdate Moments ago in our #NYC salesroom, the original Olympic Games manifesto soared to $8.8 million, more than 8.5x its $1 million high estimate following a 12-minute bidding battle. The manifesto outlines Pierre de Coubertin's vision for reviving the ancient games. pic.twitter.com/xoR4uAzs2t
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) December 18, 2019
1894 2nd Symphony by Mahler
2016 SOLD for £ 4.55M by Sotheby's
A child prodigy, Gustav Mahler becomes a conductor and uses his spare time for musical composition. His other passion is to Catholic mysticism despite he is a Jew. He is inspired by the symphonies of Liszt and Bruckner and by the grandiose construction of Wagner's operas.
Attending von Bülow's funeral in 1894, Mahler is dazzled by the ode to the Resurrection by Klopstock. He immediately begins his second symphony in five movements starting with the symphonic poem Todtenfeier which he had composed in 1888. The next phases form a dramatic crescendo leading to the exalted fortissimo of the fifth movement.
Mahler's second symphony is monumental by its duration close to an hour and a half and by its orchestra requiring 90 musicians accompanied by choirs and by soloists in soprano and alto. The conductor Semyon Bychkov comments : “At the end of it you feel that you have arrived in heaven having gone through hell”.
In 1965 the businessman Gilbert Kaplan is in his turn overwhelmed by the second symphony. He has conductor skills which he thereafter devotes exclusively to this piece.
Written from April to December 1894, the autograph manuscript of the second symphony in 232 pages 35 x 27 cm remains complete with its reworks, its withdrawals and its additions. It has never been bound.
Coming from the deceased estate of Kaplan who had acquired it in private sale in 1984, the manuscript was sold for £ 4.55M from a lower estimate of £ 3.5M by Sotheby's on November 29, 2016, lot 36. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Attending von Bülow's funeral in 1894, Mahler is dazzled by the ode to the Resurrection by Klopstock. He immediately begins his second symphony in five movements starting with the symphonic poem Todtenfeier which he had composed in 1888. The next phases form a dramatic crescendo leading to the exalted fortissimo of the fifth movement.
Mahler's second symphony is monumental by its duration close to an hour and a half and by its orchestra requiring 90 musicians accompanied by choirs and by soloists in soprano and alto. The conductor Semyon Bychkov comments : “At the end of it you feel that you have arrived in heaven having gone through hell”.
In 1965 the businessman Gilbert Kaplan is in his turn overwhelmed by the second symphony. He has conductor skills which he thereafter devotes exclusively to this piece.
Written from April to December 1894, the autograph manuscript of the second symphony in 232 pages 35 x 27 cm remains complete with its reworks, its withdrawals and its additions. It has never been bound.
Coming from the deceased estate of Kaplan who had acquired it in private sale in 1984, the manuscript was sold for £ 4.55M from a lower estimate of £ 3.5M by Sotheby's on November 29, 2016, lot 36. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Gustav Mahlers in Hamburg vollendete Auferstehungssinfonie am 2. Nov 16.30-19.00 in Hamburgs Lichtwarksaal zu sehen: https://t.co/KiE3lRtuhO pic.twitter.com/PZdU6xjkdq
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) November 1, 2016
1913 Relativity by Einstein and Besso
2021 SOLD for € 11.7M by Aguttes-Perrine
Albert Einstein early appreciated that physics is a complex inter-relation between the basic concepts of light, electricity, energy, inertia, mass. He therefore brings a modern view to Newton's works.
In physics it is not uneasy to propose theories and equations. None of them is valid until it is verified by an experience.
There was a discrepancy in the application of Newton's universal gravitation theory : the orbit of Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, is not perfectly elliptic. The tiny discrepancy is 43 seconds of arc per century at the perihelion.
In June 1913 in Zurich, Einstein and his lifelong friend Michele Besso manage a working session on the Mercury issue. Einstein's unprecedented intuition is that the gravity must be distorted by the rotation.
The two friends create and test equations in a method of trial and error. None of them matches the expected result of 43 seconds per century. After some additions in early 1914, Besso keeps their working notes.
This autograph draft document is made of 54 pages on 37 loose sheets 21 x 27 cm in equal parts by Einstein and Besso. It was sold for $ 560K by Christie's on October 4, 2002, lot 81. Coming from the Aristophil judicial liquidation, it was sold for € 11.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Aguttes et Perrine supported by Christie's on November 23, 2021, lot A. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Einstein is persistent. He manages to refine the parameters and establish the suitable "Einstein field equations", thus releasing in 1915 a refined theory of gravitation known as the general relativity which is still today the basic of cosmology.
In physics it is not uneasy to propose theories and equations. None of them is valid until it is verified by an experience.
There was a discrepancy in the application of Newton's universal gravitation theory : the orbit of Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, is not perfectly elliptic. The tiny discrepancy is 43 seconds of arc per century at the perihelion.
In June 1913 in Zurich, Einstein and his lifelong friend Michele Besso manage a working session on the Mercury issue. Einstein's unprecedented intuition is that the gravity must be distorted by the rotation.
The two friends create and test equations in a method of trial and error. None of them matches the expected result of 43 seconds per century. After some additions in early 1914, Besso keeps their working notes.
This autograph draft document is made of 54 pages on 37 loose sheets 21 x 27 cm in equal parts by Einstein and Besso. It was sold for $ 560K by Christie's on October 4, 2002, lot 81. Coming from the Aristophil judicial liquidation, it was sold for € 11.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Aguttes et Perrine supported by Christie's on November 23, 2021, lot A. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Einstein is persistent. He manages to refine the parameters and establish the suitable "Einstein field equations", thus releasing in 1915 a refined theory of gravitation known as the general relativity which is still today the basic of cosmology.
1939 Einstein Letter to President Roosevelt
2024 SOLD for $ 3.9M by Christie's
In January 1939, Niels Bohr, visiting the United States, informed physicists of the control of the fission of the uranium atom by the Berlin team. The Germans are ahead of the rest of the world on the way to the atomic bomb. Their result is confirmed by new experiments in Paris, Columbia University and Princeton.
Physicists are trying to warn the government. Fermi fails. Szilard rightly considers that the message must be carried by an illustrious figurehead. He chooses Einstein. This project resulted in two slightly different typed letters, dated August 2, 1939, which Szilard prepared and had Einstein signed for communication to President Roosevelt.
Now they must capture the president's attention. Szilard has an ally, Alexander Sachs, who had been a close associate of Roosevelt. Sachs is suspicious of Einstein's pacifist positions and would have preferred Lindbergh but the contact with the aviator had failed.
An appointment is finally made in October by Sachs to deliver Einstein's letter to Roosevelt. The President, annoyed at first, suddenly understands what is at stake : they must prevent the Germans from blowing everything up. He creates a Board that will lead to the Manhattan Project, and sends Einstein a letter of thanks.
The other letter signed by Einstein on August 2, 1939 had been retained by Szilard. Accompanied by Einstein's autograph cover letter in German to Szilard, it was sold by Christie's for $ 2.1M on March 27, 2002, lot 161, and for $ 3.9M on September 10, 2024, lot 6 in the sale of the Paul G. Allen collection. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Einstein was never told about the Manhattan Project. After the destruction of Hiroshima, he will declare that his letter to Roosevelt was the great mistake of his life. He had not understood in time that the Germans did not really have the skills to develop atomic bombs.
Physicists are trying to warn the government. Fermi fails. Szilard rightly considers that the message must be carried by an illustrious figurehead. He chooses Einstein. This project resulted in two slightly different typed letters, dated August 2, 1939, which Szilard prepared and had Einstein signed for communication to President Roosevelt.
Now they must capture the president's attention. Szilard has an ally, Alexander Sachs, who had been a close associate of Roosevelt. Sachs is suspicious of Einstein's pacifist positions and would have preferred Lindbergh but the contact with the aviator had failed.
An appointment is finally made in October by Sachs to deliver Einstein's letter to Roosevelt. The President, annoyed at first, suddenly understands what is at stake : they must prevent the Germans from blowing everything up. He creates a Board that will lead to the Manhattan Project, and sends Einstein a letter of thanks.
The other letter signed by Einstein on August 2, 1939 had been retained by Szilard. Accompanied by Einstein's autograph cover letter in German to Szilard, it was sold by Christie's for $ 2.1M on March 27, 2002, lot 161, and for $ 3.9M on September 10, 2024, lot 6 in the sale of the Paul G. Allen collection. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Einstein was never told about the Manhattan Project. After the destruction of Hiroshima, he will declare that his letter to Roosevelt was the great mistake of his life. He had not understood in time that the Germans did not really have the skills to develop atomic bombs.
1953 Letter to his son by Crick
2013 SOLD for $ 6.1M by Christie's
Through a mathematical approach to X-Ray views that had been difficult to analyze, Crick and Watson built the model of the double helix of DNA. Copernicus had used a somehow similar method to raise the heliocentric hypothesis when seeking to simplify an apparently too complex data.
Very excited (as he told it), Francis Crick could not keep the secret. The listener is well chosen: he explains with great foresight the result and its consequences in a seven-page handwritten letter dated 19 March 1953 to his son Michael then twelve years old, a college student out of home for his school time.
This first digest work of one of the greatest discoveries is signed Daddy. We see with great pleasure that this research was an actual team work honoring equally the two scientists, "Jim" Watson and Daddy. The schematic diagram of the double helix has a beautiful clarity.
On April 2, Watson and Crick submitted the first official text to the professional review Nature, which published it on April 25. The contrast is striking between the enthusiasm of Daddy's letter and the short and careful scientific release, not illustrated, soberly explaining that the fundamental breakthrough of the new theory is the relative position of the chemical elements in the molecule.
Their theory was right, and was soon validated by all biochemists in the world. Daddy's letter is a true treasure in the history of science, unparalleled except perhaps by some letters from Einstein.
Daddy's letter was sold for $ 6.1M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on April 10, 2013, lot 1. This document is extraordinary and certainly unique. One of the most important discoveries of our time is announced in a letter to a child before being published in the specialized journals. Emotion takes its place alongside the scientific rigor.
Very excited (as he told it), Francis Crick could not keep the secret. The listener is well chosen: he explains with great foresight the result and its consequences in a seven-page handwritten letter dated 19 March 1953 to his son Michael then twelve years old, a college student out of home for his school time.
This first digest work of one of the greatest discoveries is signed Daddy. We see with great pleasure that this research was an actual team work honoring equally the two scientists, "Jim" Watson and Daddy. The schematic diagram of the double helix has a beautiful clarity.
On April 2, Watson and Crick submitted the first official text to the professional review Nature, which published it on April 25. The contrast is striking between the enthusiasm of Daddy's letter and the short and careful scientific release, not illustrated, soberly explaining that the fundamental breakthrough of the new theory is the relative position of the chemical elements in the molecule.
Their theory was right, and was soon validated by all biochemists in the world. Daddy's letter is a true treasure in the history of science, unparalleled except perhaps by some letters from Einstein.
Daddy's letter was sold for $ 6.1M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on April 10, 2013, lot 1. This document is extraordinary and certainly unique. One of the most important discoveries of our time is announced in a letter to a child before being published in the specialized journals. Emotion takes its place alongside the scientific rigor.
