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Autographed Einstein Photo Sells For Record $74K

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Jun 20, 2009 7:00 pm US/Eastern

Autographed Einstein Photo Sells For Record $74K

New Hampshire Company Purchases Image Of Scientist With His Tongue Out

BOSTON (CBS) ― A New Hampshire auction company has sold the original autographed photo of Albert Einstein with his tongue hanging out for $74,324. It's the most expensive Einstein photograph ever sold at auction.

The photo was sold to to David Waxman, owner of Estates of Mind in Great Neck, New York. It's signed by Einstein himself in 1953, the height of the 1950s Communist witch hunt, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in Boston.

Einstein signed the photo, in which he stuck out his tongue, for award-winning CBS and ABC anchor/reporter Howard K. Smith as a gesture of his admiration of Smith's work.

The German inscription states: "This gesture you will like, because it is aimed at all of humanity. A civilian can afford to do what no diplomat would dare. Your loyal and grateful listener, A. Einstein '53."

The photograph was taken by UPI photographer Arthur Sasse back in 1951, at Princeton University following a celebration honoring Einstein on his 72nd birthday. While Sasse tried to convince him to smile for the camera, Einstein defiantly stuck out his tongue. The physicist was so amused by the image that he contacted UPI and requested nine prints for his personal use.

By 1953, Einstein had boldly begun speaking out against McCarthyism, when he wrote a nationally publicized letter that stated: "Every intellectual who is called before one of the committees ought to refuse to testify." That same year, an electrical engineer was called before McCarthy's committee and refused to testify, noting that he was "following advice from Professor Einstein."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.