爱因斯坦的一封信件以近300万美元的价格拍出，4分钟即成交

周二，阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦写的一封被称为“上帝之信”的书信在佳士得（Christie’s）拍卖行以近300万美元的价格拍出。

据《纽约时报》（New York Times）报道，这场竞购战持续了4分钟，最终以2,892,500美元的价格成交，几乎是拍卖行此前估计的100万美元至150万美元的两倍。中标者尚未确定。

报道称，在周二的拍卖之前，曼哈顿拍卖行曾在2008年以210万美元的高价拍出爱因斯坦的一封信。据《纽约时报》报道，那封信用打字机打印的信是于1939年写给美国总统富兰克林·D·罗斯福的，信中警告他要制造“威力强大的炸弹”。

德国哲学家埃里克·古特金德写了一本书《选择生活：圣经对反抗的召唤》（Choose Life：The holy Call to Revolt），这促使爱因斯坦写信给他。这封1.5页长的信写于1959年，爱因斯坦去世的前一年。

信中写道：“对我来说，‘上帝’一词不过是人类弱点的表达和产物，《圣经》是一系列光荣的、但仍然是非常原始的传说。”

古特金德家族一直持有这封信，直到2008年，这封信以40.4万美元的价格被拍卖。

佳士得称这封信是“对他的宗教和哲学观点最清晰的表达”。

然而，爱因斯坦传记作家沃尔特·艾萨克森却不那么肯定。艾萨克森说，爱因斯坦被描述为一位骄傲的犹太人，他的许多文章在更高权力和宗教这个主题上观点并不一致。艾萨克森补充说，“上帝之信”不应该仅仅代表他的信仰。（财富中文网）

译者：冉文忠

A letter written by Albert Einstein that has come to be known as the “God letter” sold for nearly $3 million at Christie’s on Tuesday.

A bidding war lasted four minutes, the New York Times reported, and ended with the letter selling for $2,892,500—nearly double what the auction house had estimated the piece would sell for, which was between $1 million to $1.5 million. The winning bidder wasn’t identified.

Prior to Tuesday’s sale, the highest price the Manhattan auction house had seen for one of Einstein’s letters was $2.1 million in 2008, the paper reported. That typed 1939 letter was sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt cautioning him on the creation of “powerful bombs,” according to the New York Times.

Eric Gutkind, a German philosopher, wrote a book “Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt,” which prompted the letter from Einstein. The page-and-a-half long letter, dated 1959, was written a year before Einstein’s death.

“The word God for me is nothing but the expression of and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends,” the letter reads.

The Gutkind family owned the letter until 2008 when it was auctioned for $404,000.

Christie’s called the letter “the most fully articulated expression of his religious and philosophical views.”

However, Walter Isaacson, an Einstein biographer, isn’t so sure. Einstein, described as a proud Jew, had many pieces of writings that were inconsistent on the topic of higher power and religion, Isaacson said, adding that the “God letter” shouldn’t solely represent his beliefs.