Whether you are a toddler, or a grandparent you are familiar with the man whose fluffy white hair and notorious photograph – sticking his tongue out, is as famous as Gioconda herself. Einstein, his name correlates with science, extraordinary intelligence and E=MC2.
The clichés of his sterile lifestyle are being deconstructed and rumours put to rest based on the new item Christie’s is auctioning, his skin-tight, brown leather jacket (who knew he wore one!).
The all-American Levi Strauss leather jacket solved Einstein’s headache for years (the obvious-what to wear issue!). Einstein tried to keep material restrictions to a minimum. “Long hair reduced the need for a barber and one leather jacket solved the coat problem for years” he wrote to his scientist friend Leopold Infeld, in the mid ’30s.
The jacket comes with a bonus; Einstein’s eau de parfum, his signature smell of smoke, old school pipe smoke, that is. He was a ceaseless pipe smoker, imagine 60 years after his death and the jacket still smells of smoke! Whether you’ll put it behind museum’s glass and have it for display, donate it to a museum, or wear it (!) its estimated price is between £40,000 – £60,000 ($53,240 – $79,860), but let’s not forget Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday Mr. President” Dress was sold in 1999 for $1,267,500!
Einstein’s jacket will be auctioned at Christie’s Valuable Books and Manuscripts sale on July 13th. Get your paddles ready ’cause this is gonna be big!
Lotte Jacobi, Albert Einstein in the leather jacket © 1938 The University of New Hampshire. Portrait of Albert Einstein courtesy of the University of New Hampshire
Christie’s in London, King Street
Illustration and text brought to you by Dimitria
