A photograph of one of the world's most famous, and perhaps most intelligent, tongues has sold for $74,324.
The original, autographed shot of Albert Einstein wagging his tongue at reporters, snapped at Princeton University in 1951, was auctioned this week to a bidder in Long Island, N.Y.
This was the highest price ever paid for a photograph of the legendary theoretical physicist, said Bobby Livingston, who auctioned the original print online Thursday for RRAuction.com, based in Amherst, New Hampshire.
“As soon as we got it, we knew it was something special,” Livingston said. “This incredible man understood the universe more than any of the rest of us, and here he is at this moment, making a joke, like, Â?e is a gas,’ you know?”
The mischief was captured by Arthur Sasse, a UPI photographer, after a party thrown for Einstein at Princeton on his 72nd birthday. When reportedly asked by photographers for a birthday shot, Einstein stuck out his tongue.
The physicist, who loved the photo, later contacted Sasse and requested nine prints for his personal use, according to the auctioneers.
The print that was auctioned this week had been signed and given by Einstein to his friend, CBS and ABC journalist Howard K. Smith, in admiration of his work, Livingston said.
Translated from German, Einstein’s inscription reads, “This gesture you will like, because it is aimed at all of humanity. A civilian can afford to do what no diplomat would dare. Your loyal and grateful listener, A. Einstein”
The seller, a collector in California, had bought the photo from Smith’s estate in 2004, Livingston said. It fetched the highest price of any photograph at the auction house — far above an early, signed Marilyn Monroe shot that sold for $28,000, or a Babe Ruth 1932 World Series photo that went for nearly $30,000, Livingston said.
The winning bidder on the Einstein photo was David Waxman, a rare books and autographs dealer from Long Island, N.Y. He said the photo, much appreciated by his two teenage children, is also a museum-quality piece.
Waxman was “pleased and a bit exhausted” after a determined, all-night battle against two bidders in Paris and Houston for the photo, “an iconic expression of intelligent non-conformity.”
“Einstein is a cultural hero for many people, myself included,” Waxman said. “There’s only one opportunity to acquire a thing like that.”
Julie O’Connor may be reached at (908) 351-7261 or joconnor@starledger.com.
