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Sale 88
The Manuscripts, Collectibles and Space Auction
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Lot 165 |
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Mendel, Gregor (1822 -1884) Mendel was a scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the modern science of genetics. Document Signed ("Gregor Mendel"), in German, untranslated, one page, 13½ x 8¼ in., St. Thomas's Abbey, Brno, September 1, 1876. Being a financial document concerning a financial transaction of 1,200 fl.with the monastery. The document bears the official red wax seal of the Augustinian monastery of St. Thomas, and two revenue stamps affixed near the top; Mild intersecting folds, light toning and soiling. Fine.
When the young Johann Mendel entered the Augustinian St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno in the early 1840s, he commenced his training as a priest, taking the name Gregor and securing himself an education that would have otherwise been financially unattainable. Fascinated with heredity, he began studying mice, but at the behest of his bishop (who did not like the idea of his monks studying animal sex), quickly switched to plants. Conducting his studies in the monastery's five-acre experimental garden, he spent nearly two decades working with peas before developing his Law of Segregation and Law of Independent Assortment, which would later become Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. Though his findings made little impact at the time of publication (1866), they would resurface 35 years later to become one of the biggest contributions to the emerging field of genetics. Becoming abbot of the monastery in 1868, Mendel left his scientific work behind to handle a lengthy dispute with the government regarding special taxes on religious institutions. Following his death, the succeeding abbot burned all papers in Mendel's collection to mark an end to the financial troubles, making autographed material by the ground breaking scientist nearly impossible to come by.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 7,500.
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| Realized
$6,600 |
Lot 166 |
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[Scientists] Teller, Seaborg, Richter & Others. Eight items signed by seven scientists: Edward Teller (1908-2003) Father of the H Bomb, two 3 x 5" cards signed; Glenn T. Seaborg (1912-1999) Discovered (with Edwin McMillan) the element plutonium and won the 1951 Nobel Peace Prize in Chemistry, personal card signed "Glenn T. Seaborg"; Charles F. Richter (1900-1985), invented scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes, personal card signed and dated "5/24/76".; Dr. Jonas Salk (1914-1995) developed the polio vaccine, 3 x 5" card signed; Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906-1997) astronomer who discovered Pluto (which has recently been declared not to be a planet), card signed and inscribed "Discovered the 9th planet, Pluto, on 18 Feb 1930".; Margarent Mead (1901-1978) anthropologist who studied human development through a cross-cultural perspective, signed card and dated "1975".; and Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997), scientist and explorer, signed photo, b & with, 7 x 5". All fine.
Estimated Value $300-UP.
Jerry Berg Card Collection.
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| Realized
$185 |
Lot 167 |
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[Scientists/Physicians]. Group of twelve items signed by scientists/ physicians. Included are: Paul R. Ehrlich (1854-1915, 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine), signed Stanford business card; Christian Bernard (1922-2001, performed first successful heart transplant), signed University of Cape Town card with a small typed memo; Harold C. Urey (1893-1981, 1934 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) personal memo sheet signed; Paul J. Flory (1910-85, pioneer in polymer science) signed card; N.E. Shumway (1923-2006, performed first successful U.S. heart transplant), 5 x 4" signed and dated photo "7/23/87"; Linus Pauling (1901-1994, Nobel Prize in Chemistry and another for Peace) signed card; Jonas Salk (1914-95), developed the polio vaccine) two signed cards; Denton A. Cooley (1920 -), implanted first artificial heart) 7 x 5" signed and dated photo "12-5-02", and a signed and dated business card "1-22-99"; and C. Everett Koop (1916 -, Surgeon General under President Reagan), two signed business cards. Overall fine.
Estimated Value $250-UP.
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| Realized
$148 |
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