A note that Albert Einstein gave to a courier in Tokyo briefly describing his theory on happy living sold at auction in Jerusalem today for $1.56 million (£1.18million), the auction house has said.
The winning bid far exceeded the pre-auction estimated price of between $5,000 (£3,809) and $8,000 (£6,094), according to the Winner’s auction house website.
The note was written in 1922 when the German-born physicist, most famous for his theory of relativity, was on a lecture tour in Japan.
Albert Einstein (pictured) is believed to have written the note that sold for £1.18million at auction today in 1922 when he had no small change to offer his driver
He had recently been informed that he was going to receive the Nobel Prize for physics, and his fame outside of scientific circles was growing.
A Japanese courier arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo to deliver the scientist a message but he had no change to give as a tip.
Einstein did not want the messenger to leave empty-handed, so he wrote him two notes by hand in German, according to the seller, a relative of the messenger.
One note says that ‘a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.’
The other reads: ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’
The buyer was European, but wished to remain anonymous, a spokesman for the auction house told AFP.
They said: ‘I am really happy that there are people out there who are still interested in science and history and timeless deliveries in a world which is developing so fast.’
It is impossible to determine if the notes were a reflection of Einstein’s own musings on his growing fame, said Roni Grosz, the archivist in charge of the world’s largest Einstein collection, at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.
While the notes, previously unknown to researchers, hold no scientific value, they may shed light on the private thoughts of the great physicist whose name has become synonymous with genius, according to Grosz.
‘What we’re doing here is painting the portrait of Einstein – the man, the scientist, his effect on the world – through his writings,’ he said.
‘This is a stone in the mosaic.’
One of the notes (pictured) read ‘a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest’, while the other reads ‘Where’s there’s a will there’s a way’