Albert Einstein's Leather Jacket Sold for Just Under $150,000

In the 1930s, after he moved to the United States to escape the Nazis, Albert Einstein navigated his new home in a brown leather jacket. The scientist wore the jacket constantly; it pops up in many photos from the time and even traveled to the Bahamas with him. Now, the beloved jacket is going on to make a new set of memories: It was recently sold at auction for about $144,424.

Gizmodo reports that the jacket, made by Levi Strauss around 1935, was a part of a recent Christie's auction held in London. The auction also included his set of Anker-Steinbaukasten children's building blocks and his pocket watch; the latter sold for more than $350,000. The jacket and the other items are said to have been passed directly from Einstein to the owner who made them available for the auction, whose name was not included in the listings.

Einstein and his son in New York, 1937. / Getty Images

Christie's specialist Thomas Venning described the jacket as "incredibly worn" and "rather pungent," which didn't deter collectors from bidding the item up much higher than its estimate of about $53,000. Maybe it even helped boost the value of the piece, because who doesn't want to own the funk of a genius?

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