Rare computing artifacts, space-related objects, documents, letters and more from the collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen reeled in more than $10 million during a live auction on Tuesday.
The sale by Christie’s of New York, called “Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity from the Paul G. Allen Collection,” featured 36 items. Sale highlights included a 1939 letter from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt, which fetched $3.9 million, and a Cray-1 supercomputer that sold for just over $1 million. An early Apple-1 personal computer also sold for $945,000, and a lunch menu from the Titanic sold for $340,000 — high above a pre-sale estimate of $50,000.
The Einstein letter, Apple-1 and menu all set records for any such items ever sold at auction, according to Christie’s.
More than 100 other items are currently up for bid in two online sales that end Thursday. “Firsts: The History of Computing” features many items previously displayed at Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle, which Allen started and which was permanently closed in June. “Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from the Paul G. Allen Collection” includes 20th century paintings and drawings devoted to futuristic visions, especially interplanetary travel.
GeekWire even got in on the bidding game for one item. Check back later this week for insights on how high-profile auctions work — and to see if we won.
Allen’s estate says proceeds from all sales will go to charitable causes, in keeping with his wishes. Since his death in 2018, numerous items and properties have been sold.
Christie’s said items in Tuesday’s sale helped tell “the story of science and technology from pre-history to the present day” and the lot reflected Allen’s “most personal passions,” serving as a testament to the rapid pace of technological innovation.
Noteworthy computer-related artifacts beyond the Cray supercomputer and Apple-1 included a MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer (sold for $56,700); a Xerox Alto II XM computer (sold for $252,000); a CDC DD60A console (sold for $32,760); and an IBM System 360 Model 91 control console (sold for $189,000).
More details on key items and prices in the sale included:
- A signed letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning about the scientific discovery that led to the atomic bomb (sold for $3,922,000).
- A first-class luncheon menu from the Titanic, from the final lunch on the day the ship struck an iceberg and sank (sold for $340,200).
- An archive with letters from Lous Leakey, Jane Goodall, and Dian Fossey on their work in primatology in the 1950s and 1960s, with examples of Goodall’s earliest research, pictures, casts of discoveries, and an example of chimpanzee tools collected in the wild by Goodall (sold for $40,320).
- The original pitchbook for the television documentary series, “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” (sold for $37,800).
- An abstract sculpture by Antony Gormley, “Quantum Cloud XI” (sold for $579,600).
- A four-rotor Enigma Machine from 1941 (sold for $718,200).
- A Pac-Man Arcade game from 1980 (sold for $10,710).
Christie’s worked previously with Allen’s estate for a November 2022 auction of 155 pieces from Allen’s art collection. It was the world’s most successful single-owner fine art auction ever, raising a record $1.62 billion.
Allen’s estate, led by his sister Jody Allen, has been divesting a variety of his projects and investments since his death in 2018, including Seattle’s Cinerama movie theater, the Everett, Wash.-based Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum, Vulcan Productions, Stratolaunch, the superyacht Octopus, and other assets.
