NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s and the estate of the late Paul G. Allen, philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder, announce Gen One: Innovations from the Paul G. Allen Collection coming this fall. A celebration of first-generation technologies and the pioneering minds behind them, the series comprises three auctions: Firsts: The History of Computing, an online sale closing Sep. 12; Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity, a live auction on Sep. 10; and Over the Horizon: Art of the Future, an online auction closing Sep. 12.

Marc Porter, Chairman, Christie’s Americas, remarks, “Never before has the market seen a collection of this diversity that so beautifully chronicles the history of human science and technological ingenuity – much less one assembled by a founding father of modern computing. It is a testament to the uniqueness and importance of these objects that one of the greatest innovators of our day collected, preserved, and in dozens of cases, restored them, while both drawing his own inspiration from them and sharing many of them publicly.”

Firsts is the inaugural sale of the three auctions and pays homage to Allen’s role shaping the modern computing landscape. Highlighting this sale is a computer which Allen helped restore and on which he worked, a DEC PDP-10: KI-10 (estimate: $30,000 – 50,000). This example, built in 1971, hails from the important PDP-10 series, which is the first computer that both Allen and Bill Gates ever used prior to founding Microsoft. This family of computers was among the first to support real-time, interactive computing and played a key role in the development of ARPANET, which in turn laid the technical foundation of the Internet.

Pushing Boundaries is the second and sole live auction of the series. The items on offer tell the story of scientific and technological achievements spanning centuries. The top lot is a Signed Letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1939 (estimate: $4,000,000 – 6,000,000). In this correspondence, Einstein informs President Roosevelt that the Germans have discovered a fissionable form of uranium that could be used to fuel a devastating weapon. This letter is credited as the impetus behind the FDR administration’s establishment of the Manhattan Project and ultimately the detonation of the first nuclear weapon six years later. Two identical versions of this letter exist, the other is in the permanent collection of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and considered the most influential letter written in the twentieth century. Recognized within academic communities for generations, the letter became known broadly in popular culture through its appearance in the 2023 Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Oppenheimer.

Pushing Boundaries also showcases premier technologies from the 1960s that immortalize the Space Race and the deep excitement felt around the world for space exploration at the time. A notable example is a Gemini Spacesuit that belonged to Ed White, famed astronaut and aeronautical engineer, who in June 1965 became the first American to perform a spacewalk (estimate: $80,000 – 120,000).

Over the Horizon is the third and final auction, showcasing an array of artistic achievements devoted to interplanetary travel. Highlighting this sale is Chesley Bonestell’s Saturn as Seen from Titan (estimate: $30,000 – 50,000). Painted circa 1952 by the most popular artist of Cold War era space-based exploration, this iconic view is often referred to as “the painting that launched a thousand careers” and stands as testament to Allen’s discerning eye across the fields of both science and fine art.

Gen One continues Christie’s successful partnership with the Allen estate. In November 2022, Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection Part I and Part II became the world’s most successful single-owner fine art auction ever, featuring 155 masterpieces spanning 500 years of art history and raising a record-setting $1.62 billion. As with Visionary, all estate proceeds from Gen One will be dedicated to philanthropy, pursuant to Allen’s wishes.

Philanthropist and Technologist Paul G. Allen (1953 – 2018)

Paul G. Allen lived a life motivated by a love of ideas and making the world a better place, from co-founding Microsoft in 1975 to starting his first charitable foundation in 1988, and from founding the acclaimed Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in 2000 to launching the Allen Institute in 2003, which tackles some of the biggest questions in bioscience.

Allen continued to explore the frontiers of technology and human knowledge even decades after his time at Microsoft. His extensive collection of computing technology started in 1977 with the purchase of a TOAD-1 Systems Corporation machine and extended to historically significant software created on the DEC PDP-10 family of systems. He created the Living Computer Museum in 2012 to house the growing collection of vintage technology with a focus on hands-on experiences. Known also for his diverse collection of art and cultural artifacts, Allen created the Flying Heritage Collection and Combat Armor Museum (now owned and operated by the Wartime History Museum), and he held a deep passion for music and creative expression, the impetus for the Museum of Pop Culture. Founded at the turn of the millennium as Experience Music Project, MoPOP is today recognized as a global destination, showcasing a breathtaking and historic collection of music and popular culture artifacts and memorabilia.

During his lifetime, Allen contributed more than $2.65 billion to philanthropy, supporting a range of important causes such as bioscience, endangered species, ocean health, climate science, and arts and culture. In 2010, he was an early signer of the Giving Pledge, a commitment to contribute the majority of one’s wealth to philanthropy. In 2015, he was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy for dedicating his wealth to public good. Allen passed away in October 2018, but the breadth and depth of his generosity and his desire to continue improving the lives of people around the world even after his death will create impact for generations to come.

Schedule of Sales

I. Firsts: The History of Computing from The Paul G. Allen Collection | Online - through Sep. 12

II. Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity from The Paul G. Allen Collection | Live - Sep. 10

III. Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from The Paul G. Allen Collection | Online - through Sep. 12

Presale exhibitions of select highlights will launch in New York beginning in July. The exhibition will be on view at Christie’s Rockefeller Center September 5 – September 9.