When an extraordinary cache of love letters written by Albert Einstein to his first wife between 1898 and 1903 went up for auction last December, the historic collection was expected to fetch up to $2 million.
At minimum, the Einstein letters —in which the Nobel Prize-winning physicist elucidated not only his amorous feelings for Serbian physicist Mileva Marić, but also his initial thoughts on the theory of relativity — were expected to sell for at least $1.3 million, the low estimate from Christie’s, the esteemed auction house handling the sale. The missives have been described as the “most important source for Einstein’s early life and intellectual development,” including “the only known information” about the illegitimate daughter he secretly fathered in 1902.
