Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Einstein Work Fails to Sell at Auction
Albert Einstein’s handwritten manuscript on the theory of relativity failed to sell at auction because bids fell short of the secret minimum selling price. Sotheby’s had hoped to sell the 72-page manuscript, written in German in 1912, for $4 million to $6 million. The first time the manuscript came up for auction, in 1987, it sold for $1.2 million, setting a record for any manuscript sold in America. Auctioneer David Redden, after starting the bidding at $2 million, gave up at $3.3 million, below the undisclosed minimum price set by the seller and Sotheby’s.
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