One of Thomas Edison's handwritten laboratory notebooks is expected to see some of the highest bids in Profiles in History's auction of Property of a Distinguished American Collector Part II, which will take place later today (May 30) in California.
 The shaky writing shows Edison's age - he was 81 by the time of this last experiment |
The notebook, which contains eight hand-drawn sketches, will sell with an $80,000-120,000 estimated value.
The notes appear to be the same that realised $50,000 at a September 2012 auction, capturing the final experiments that Edison made in attempting to find an alternative to rubber at the request of motoring giants and friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone.
Should the notebook meet its high estimate, it will have shown a 140% increase in value in just eight months, with the sharp rise likely attributed to several recent high profile sales of scientific memorabilia, including Francis Crick's letter on the discovery of DNA.
The notes were written between 1927 and 1928, just a few years before Edison's death in 1931 - this was to be his last major experiment. As one of science's brightest minds, he had been asked to find an alternative organic source for the production of rubber for automotive tires.
The journal itself is in good condition, with just the edges occasionally ribbed and some signs of handling. It is one of just a very small number of Edison's notebooks in private hands.
This autographed letter from Thomas Edison in our stock sees the great inventor signing the Annual Report of the Edison Spanish Colonial Light Company, which controlled Edison's electric light patents in Cuba, Puerto Rico and other Spanish American colonies.
