At a live auction on Tuesday by Christie’s in New York, rare computing artifacts, space-related objects, documents, letters, and more from the collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen were sold for over $10 million. The auction, titled “Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity from the Paul G. Allen Collection,” featured 36 items, with highlights including a 1939 letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that sold for $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 fetched $340,000, well above its pre-sale estimate of $50,000.
The auction set records for any such items ever sold at auction. More than 100 other items are currently up for bid in two online sales that end Thursday, titled “Firsts: The History of Computing” featuring items previously displayed at Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle, and “Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from the Paul G. Allen Collection” which includes 20th-century paintings and drawings focusing on futuristic visions. Proceeds from all sales will go to charitable causes in line with Allen’s wishes.
The items in Tuesday’s sale helped tell the story of science and technology from pre-history to the present day and reflected Allen’s personal passions, serving as a testament to the rapid pace of technological innovation. Notable computer-related artifacts sold at the auction in addition to the Cray supercomputer and Apple-1 included a MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer, a Xerox Alto II XM computer, a CDC DD60A console, and an IBM System 360 Model 91 control console. The auction also featured items such as a signed letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a first-class luncheon menu from the Titanic’s final lunch as it sank.
Christie’s previously worked with Allen’s estate for an auction of 155 pieces from Allen’s art collection in November 2022, which was the world’s most successful single-owner fine art auction ever, raising a record $1.62 billion. Since Allen’s death in 2018, his estate, led by his sister Jody Allen, has been divesting various projects and investments including Seattle’s Cinerama movie theater, the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum in Everett, Washington, Vulcan Productions, Stratolaunch, the superyacht Octopus, and other assets. The auction of Allen’s collection highlights his contributions to science and technology and the impact of his interests and investments on the world of computing and innovation.
