The owners of Albert Einstein's first manuscript on relativity apparently miscalculated in asking $4 million to $6 million for the work, which went unsold at Sotheby's auction house Saturday.
Bids started at $2 million and went up to $3.3 million, but failed to meet the owner's secret required minimum in a special sale following an auction of Russian space gear.The 1912 manuscript sold nine years ago for $1.2 million to an anonymous buyer.
The 72-page manuscript is the earliest surviving document of Einstein's theory of relativity, E-mc (energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared), including his abandoned version, EL-mc, with L, for light, crossed out.
The document's publication was delayed by the First World War. When the war ended, Einstein said it was outdated and let his publisher keep it.
Sotheby's specialist David Redden said he was disappointed, but that the manuscript might sell privately soon.
The manuscript was put on sale directly after a daylong auction of Russian space gear, which attracted a standing room only crowd of everyone from scientists to parents who took their children just to watch.
Cosmonaut Anatoly N. Berezovoy, who spent a record 211 days in space in 1982, autographed catalogs and cheerfully handed out his own space pins to fans.
He said through a translator he was a little disappointed his items brought "not so expensive" prices and that he planned to use the profit for his daughter's wedding.
A Vostok program 3KA-2 space capsule that carried mannequin "Ivan Ivanovich" to space in 1961 was expected to fetch up to $1 million, but it went unsold.
A 1978 spy satellite was the most expensive item, selling for $112,500.