His last will and testament - photo 1
His last will and testament - photo 2
His last will and testament - photo 3

His last will and testament

Lot 143
16.10.2025 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 53 340
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1472065
Lot 143 | His last will and testament
Estimate value
$ 20 000 – 30 000
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955). Autograph document signed ("Albert Einstein"), Princeton, 18 May 1934. Countersigned ("Harrison M. Thomas" and "Thomas P. Stutts") as witnesses. [With:] Partly-printed document signed ("Albert Einstein" and again "Albert Einstein" on verso), filled out in his hand, Princeton, 23 May 1934. Countersigned ("Harrison M. Thomas" and "Thomas P. Stutts") as witnesses.

In German. One page each, autograph document: 275 x 215mm, partly-printed document 120 x 740mm (both into multiple fragments, but largely complete with no loss of text).

Albert Einstein's first will executed in the United States, signed a year after he settled personally in the United States. This superseded the will that he had written in 1927 while still in Germany, in which he left his entire estate to his wife Elsa (or Ilse Kaiser and Margot Einstein in the event Else was no longer alive). In that will, he would have left his violins, scientific manuscripts and books to his sons Albert and Eduard, and instructed for whatever they did not desire to be donated to the Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem. In the present 1934 will, while his assets held by Princeton Bank & Trust Company were to be distributed to the same beneficiaries, there is no mention of his sons nor of the library in Jerusalem. In 1950, Einstein filed a new will, this time bequeathing his writings and literary rights to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His books went to his secretary Helena Dukas, while all of his household furniture and effects went to Margot Einstein. He additionally left specific sums of money to Margot Einstein, Helena Dukas, Marie Winteler well as to his sons Eduard and Albert. He bequeathed his violin to his grandson (and Albert Junior's son), Bernhard Caesar Einstein.

The present will, both in manuscript draft and the official form, was intentionally destroyed, either by Einstein personally or at his direction. It was Martha Thomas, an employee of the Princeton Bank & Trust Co. and the daughter-in-law of Harris M. Thomas (one of the witnesses), who apparently retrieved the documents and retained them as a keepsake. Upon her death, the documents came to the consignor's father who had managed Martha Thomas's estate. Provenance: Albert Einstein – Martha Thomas – by descent to the consignor.
Artist:Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
Place of origin:USA
Auction house category:Medicine & science
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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02.10.2025 – 16.10.2025
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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