My father-in-law gave me a transcript of the 1931 commencement speech – worth $20,000 because of the speaker’s advice

A TRANSCRIPT of a 1931 speech was valued at US$20,000 thanks to the famous speaker’s signature.

The Antiques Roadshow appraiser did not know whether the A-list author himself had typed the piece of paper or whether it was a copy given to the press.

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The guest explained that her father-in-law was studying at Yale when Albert Einstein gave a commencement address at the California Institute of Technology.

As a fellow physicist, the father-in-law rushed to try and get a copy of the speech and was lucky enough to find one that Einstein signed.

When his son followed in his footsteps, he passed on the signed speech so that another physicist could be inspired by it.

Evaluator Catherine Williamson explained that Einstein’s short speech discussed whether technological advances were beneficial to humanity.

The speech said: “Why does this magnificent applied science, which saves work and makes life easier, brings us so little happiness? The simple answer is: because we haven’t yet learned how to make sensible use of it.”

“What I like about this letter is the way it boils down to its simplest essence the question of whether or not technological progress is necessarily a good thing,” Williamson said.

But it wasn’t all good news.

“What is not good about this letter is that there is some, frankly, racist language about indigenous cultures,” she added.

Einstein compared indigenous cultures to “modern” cultures, implying that the latter were unhappy because they had moved away from primitive ideas.

Williamson highlighted that it was difficult to pinpoint a value without knowing whether it was actually typed by Einstein or just a copy delivered and signed by him.

“But having him sign this speech with a really powerful message makes this document very powerful,” she added.

She offered a “conservative” estimate, in part due to language about indigenous people, of the speech selling for between $10,000 and $20,000 at auction.

The guest was thrilled to learn the value, but said she did not plan to give up the speech and preferred to keep it in the family and give it to her grandchildren.

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The grandson of a sports memorabilia collector discovered this firsthand when he brought an autographed 1939 Baseball Hall of Fame program to be appraised at Antiques Roadshow.

He explained that his grandfather snuck into the opening of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, in 1939 to get the program and autographs from the stars.

Legends such as Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, Cy Young and, most notably, Babe Ruth attended the opening for his induction.

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After hiding in the bathroom for hours, Grandpa got the signatures of most of the participants, including Ruth.

An appraiser valued the program at $10,000 to $20,000.

“Interesting, well, Grandpa – this was his crown jewel,” said the owner.

“He knew he had something special and loved sharing the stories with us.”

Sports items can fetch a lot of money at auction, like baseball cards inherited from a great-great-grandmother that sold for $1 million.

Plus, see the brooch that was passed down for generations before being considered worth $28,000.