爱因斯坦随手写下便条 拍出百万天价

choi

(1) 爱因斯坦随手写下便条 拍出百万天价. 德国之声, Oct 25, 2017
http://www.dw.com/zh/%E7%88%B1%E ... ?&zhongwen=simp
("当时刚刚获获知自己获得诺贝尔物理学奖消息的爱因斯坦正在日本进行巡回演讲。 * * * 他用德语写道：'平静而谦虚的生活带来更多幸福，追求成功只会带来不安。'  写下这段人生快乐哲理之后，爱因斯坦收到酒店信差送来的信函。他发现自己身上没有散钱付小费，就把这张便笺纸送给了信差。 近100年后的今天，当年那名信差的亲属将这张便笺委托耶路撒冷的一家拍卖行拍卖。
这张便笺拍卖起价为2000美元")

Note:
(a) The subtitle reads in part: "近日 [Oct 24] 在耶路撒冷举行的一场拍卖会上 [held by an auction house 'Winner's Auctions and Exhibitions'] 以156万美元的价格拍出."
(b) The report stated that Einstein amused himself with the two pieces of writings. At the end of the report is "(路透社、法新社、美联社)" -- indicating this is a translation. However, the Reuters report is ambiguous about the timeline; AFP does not mention the correlation. Yet the Associated Press clearly says Einstein wrote the two notes then and there for the courier.
(c) The Reuters report does say, "According to the auction house, Einstein advised the bellboy to keep the note, saying that some day its value will surpass the amount of a standard tip."

(2)
(a) Albert Einstein's Happiness Note Sold for $1.6m. BBC, Oct 24, 2017
www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41742785
("Einstein gave the note to a courier in Tokyo in 1922 instead of a tip.  He had just heard that he had won the coveted Nobel prize for physics and told the messenger that, if he was lucky, the notes would become valuable. * * * When the courier came to his room to make a delivery, he did not have any money to reward him.  Instead, he handed the messenger a signed note - using stationery of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo")
(b) 'More Valuable Than a Regular Tip': Einstein's handwritten Note to Courier Sells for $1.5m. Guardian, Oct 24, 2017 ("17 hours ago" -- it is 3 pm, EDT).
https://www.theguardian.com/scie ... -life-sells-for-15m

two consecutive paragraphs:

"A Japanese courier arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo to deliver Einstein a message. The courier either refused to accept a tip, in line with local practice, or Einstein had no small change available.

"Either way, Einstein didn’t want the messenger to leave empty-handed, so he wrote him two notes by hand in German, according to the seller, a relative of the messenger.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of these two English-language reports.
(b) Imperial Hotel, Tokyo  帝国ホテル
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hotel,_Tokyo

From the start (1890) to the present, the hotel (there has been three on the same site, successively) has been owned and run by businessmen (according to ja.wikipedia.org) -- despite the name.