Iconic Einstein pic auctioned for $125,000
A rare signed copy of the iconic photograph of German physicist Albert Einstein playfully sticking his tongue out has been sold for a whopping USD 125,000 at an auction in the US.
The picture was clicked on the occasion of the Nobel Prize winner's 72nd birthday party at Princeton University on March 14, 1951 by United Press International (UPI) photographer Arthur Sasse.
Sasse was trying to persuade Einstein to smile for the camera, but having smiled for photographers many times that day, he stuck out his tongue instead.
Sasse's employers were initially hesitant about publishing the iconoclastic image.
When the picture was published, Einstein was so amused by it that he ordered several prints to give out to close friends, according to Nate D Sanders Auctions.
The image, unlike most prints is not cropped to show only Einstein.
Most of the prints were cropped to include only Einstein's face, but the 7x 10-inch print that was sold this week offers a slightly more extended view, showing Einstein between Frank Aydelotte, an English professor and head of the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University, and Aydelotte’s wife, Marie Jeanette.
The photo is signed along the left margin "A. Einstein.51", indicating he signed the image shortly after it was taken. It measures 7 x 10 inches and is in good condition.
Prints, letters and other memorabilia associated with Einstein often draw high bids at auctions. Earlier this year, someone spent nearly $54,000 on Einstein's 1953 written response to a physics teacher who seemed to have questions about the theory of special relativity. An Einstein-inscribed Bible was sold for $68,500 in 2013. And a 1939 letter Einstein wrote to a New York hat merchant who helped Jews escapethe Nazi regime sold for $12,500 in 2014.
The auction of Einstein’s "God letter" was perhaps the most remarkable in recent years. The letter, in which Einstein expresses his views that religious beliefs are "childish," sold for just over $3 million on eBay in 2012.
Einstein’s March 14 birthday continues to be celebrated in Princeton at “Pi Day” because the 3/14 date corresponds to 3.14, the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi.