In 1922, Albert Einstein wrote two notes on hotel stationery that, nearly a century later, were worth almost $2 million. They weren’t the keys to the universe, as the scientist is known for, but the writing commented on something much more mystifying: the human condition.
The story goes that Einstein was about to leave for Asia to embark on a lecture tour when he learned he had won the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics. Rather than attending the award ceremony in Stockholm, however, he opted to keep his plans and go to Japan. Einstein arrived in Tokyo to much fanfare, with nearly 2,500 people paying to see his lecture there.
While in Tokyo, the physicist and his wife, Elsa, stayed at the Imperial Hotel. A courier came to their room to make a delivery. It’s unclear why, but either Einstein had no change or the courier refused a tip. Regardless, Einstein wanted to leave the messenger with something.
He pulled out the hotel stationery and on one sheet of paper wrote his theory of happiness. “A calm and modest life,” Einstein penned, “brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.” On the second sheet of paper, he wrote, “Where there's a will there's a way.”
Einstein told the courier to save those notes, as maybe they’ll be valuable in the future. It turns out that he was right.
The papers were sold at a 2017 auction in Jerusalem, where the note on happiness fetched $1.56 million and the second message sold for $240,000. This was well beyond the expected sale of between $5,000 to $8,000. The seller was reportedly the grandson of the Japanese bellboy’s brother, who was living in Germany.
In 1922, Albert Einstein penned two notes and gave them to a bellhop at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. He said they might be valuable one day. Nearly a century later, the notes sold for almost $2 million.
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Source: Einstein's Note On Happiness, Given To Bellboy In 1922, Fetches $1.6 Million
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