Update: The violin was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $516,000. At five times the low-estimate, the sale set an auction record for Einstein memorabilia.
It’s no secret that music was central to Albert Einstein’s life — even National Geographic finessed the “Einstein and his violin” angle during a trailer for their period drama about the scientist. Unfortunately, there are no known recordings of his playing, leaving imaginings of the fiddling physicist alone in our brains. But some lucky bidder will own a tangible link to his musical past — Einstein’s violin is up for auction.
The New York branch of London-based auction house Bonhams, which is handling the sale, values the instrument between $100,000 and $150,000. It was made in 1933 specifically for Einstein, who had recently immigrated to the United States to escape Nazi persecution and become a resident scholar at Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study.
The instrument was made in Pennsylvania by Oscar Steger of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, who dedicated the instrument to “the Worlds [sic] Greatest Scientist Profesior [sic]” on an inscription in the violin’s body.
Steger was a cabinet maker by trade, but according to October 26, 1933 edition of The Harrisburg Observer, the guy had steady side-hustle as a luthier.
Einstein began playing the violin as a young boy, and as a teenager fell in love with Mozart’s violin sonatas — and that’s when his appreciation for music really began to take off. Bonhams notes that performance was a non-negotiable in Einstein’s life. While he was certainly game to discuss physics, he was equally committed to the Wednesday night chamber music gatherings he held in his Princeton home.
Einstein eventually gave the violin to a promising musician named Lawrence Tibbs, son of Princeton University janitor Sylas Tibbs, and it eventually became a family heirloom. But now it’s time for the violin to find a new home — and honestly, wouldn’t it be wonderful if it wound up with another with music-loving physicist?
