{"id":31079,"date":"2018-12-04T16:23:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T21:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/?p=31079"},"modified":"2019-02-28T07:06:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T12:06:07","slug":"einsteins-god-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"Einstein&#8217;s God Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>\u201cThe word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of venerable but still primitive legends.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Albert Einstein<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31080\" style=\"width: 152px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31080\" class=\"wp-image-31080 \" src=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter-230x300.jpg\" alt=\"image-albert-einstein-god-letter\" width=\"142\" height=\"185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg 474w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 142px) 100vw, 142px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-31080\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Einstein&#8217;s God Letter<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein, known as the <em>God Letter, <\/em>was promoted as a stand-alone auction at Christie&#8217;s today, although the sale that immediately followed, Fine Books and Manuscripts, started at lot 2.<\/p>\n<p>The letter, penned in German by Einstein (1954) to German philosopher Eric Gutkind, was a response to Gutkind\u2019s book \u201cChoose Life: A Biblical Call to Revolt (1952).\u201d \u00a0\u00a0The book, inspired by Jewish traditions used the Bible as a call to arms and apparently did not sit well with Einstein.\u00a0 Granted, Einstein did identify as Jewish but did not believe in God and this letter is an honest expression of his religious, or lack thereof, beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2008, the letter (presumably offered by Gutkind&#8217;s relatives) sold for \u00a3170K (\u00a3208K\/$404K with the commission &#8211; w\/c) at Bloomsbury Auctions,\u00a0Mayfair, on an\u00a0estimate of\u00a0 \u00a36-8K.\u00a0 In 2012, it appeared on eBay with a price of $3M &#8230; someone thought they would find a sucker on eBay!\u00a0 I guess there were no suckers since, according to the Christie&#8217;s catalog, the current seller was the same person who bought it in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>This time around, it carried an estimate of $1-1.5M and when the auction started, I had my doubts it would sell since the auctioneer struggled to get the first bid of $1M &#8230; then the action stalled again (it seemed that the result would be anti-climactic given all the press).\u00a0 But thankfully for the seller, a second bidder chimed in and the letter hammered at $2.4 M ($2.9M w\/c).\u00a0 Not bad, I just really thought it would go for a lot more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of venerable but still primitive legends.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Albert Einstein A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein, known as the God Letter, was promoted &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/?contemporary=N\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[207,20,407],"class_list":["post-31079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rehs-galleries","tag-auction-news","tag-auction-results","tag-manuscripts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Einstein&#039;s God Letter - Rehs Galleries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Einstein&#039;s God Letter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThe word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of venerable but still primitive legends.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Albert Einstein A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein, known as the God Letter, was promoted &hellip; More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rehs Galleries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RehsGalleriesInc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-04T21:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-28T12:06:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"474\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amy Rehs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amy Rehs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amy Rehs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e9be54a41856350ea54e2acf2fd6f8ec\"},\"headline\":\"Einstein&#8217;s God Letter\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T21:23:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-28T12:06:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":306,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Auction News\",\"Auction Results\",\"Manuscripts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Rehs 19th &amp; 20th\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Einstein's God Letter - Rehs Galleries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T21:23:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-28T12:06:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg\",\"width\":474,\"height\":618,\"caption\":\"albert-einstein-god-letter\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/einsteins-god-letter\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Einstein&#8217;s God Letter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rehs Galleries\",\"description\":\"Offering and acquiring high quality paintings in excellent condition. Family owned and operated for more than 80 years!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Rehs Galleries\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/indexlogo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/indexlogo.jpg\",\"width\":153,\"height\":85,\"caption\":\"Rehs Galleries\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/RehsGalleriesInc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/rehsgalleries\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/rehsgalleries\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/rehscontemporary\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/rehscgi\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/rehscontemporary\\\/?hl=en\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e9be54a41856350ea54e2acf2fd6f8ec\",\"name\":\"Amy Rehs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/03f3a3fe0250c905fffcdbd894185b489f96567736344400c3c3c49a1f060a7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/03f3a3fe0250c905fffcdbd894185b489f96567736344400c3c3c49a1f060a7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/03f3a3fe0250c905fffcdbd894185b489f96567736344400c3c3c49a1f060a7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amy Rehs\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Einstein's God Letter - Rehs Galleries","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Einstein's God Letter","og_description":"\u201cThe word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of venerable but still primitive legends.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Albert Einstein A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein, known as the God Letter, was promoted &hellip; More...","og_url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/","og_site_name":"Rehs Galleries","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RehsGalleriesInc","article_published_time":"2018-12-04T21:23:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-28T12:06:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":474,"height":618,"url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amy Rehs","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amy Rehs","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/"},"author":{"name":"Amy Rehs","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/e9be54a41856350ea54e2acf2fd6f8ec"},"headline":"Einstein&#8217;s God Letter","datePublished":"2018-12-04T21:23:17+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-28T12:06:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/"},"wordCount":306,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg","keywords":["Auction News","Auction Results","Manuscripts"],"articleSection":["Rehs 19th &amp; 20th"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/","url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/","name":"Einstein's God Letter - Rehs Galleries","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg","datePublished":"2018-12-04T21:23:17+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-28T12:06:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/albert-einstein-god-letter.jpg","width":474,"height":618,"caption":"albert-einstein-god-letter"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/12\/einsteins-god-letter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Einstein&#8217;s God Letter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/","name":"Rehs Galleries","description":"Offering and acquiring high quality paintings in excellent condition. Family owned and operated for more than 80 years!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#organization","name":"Rehs Galleries","url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/indexlogo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/indexlogo.jpg","width":153,"height":85,"caption":"Rehs Galleries"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RehsGalleriesInc","https:\/\/x.com\/rehsgalleries","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rehsgalleries\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rehscontemporary\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/rehscgi","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rehscontemporary\/?hl=en"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/e9be54a41856350ea54e2acf2fd6f8ec","name":"Amy Rehs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03f3a3fe0250c905fffcdbd894185b489f96567736344400c3c3c49a1f060a7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03f3a3fe0250c905fffcdbd894185b489f96567736344400c3c3c49a1f060a7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03f3a3fe0250c905fffcdbd894185b489f96567736344400c3c3c49a1f060a7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amy Rehs"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}