Albert Einstein, during a lecture in Vienna in 1921. Photo:Internet 

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JERUSALEM : A note that Albert Einstein gave to a courier in Tokyo briefly describing his theory on happy living sold at auction in Jerusalem on Tuesday for $1.56 million, the auction house said.

One of two notes written by Albert Einstein, in 1922, on hotel stationary from the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo Japan, photographed on October 19, 2017. Photo : AFP

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The winning bid for the note far exceeded the pre-auction estimated price of between $5,000 and $8,000, according to the Winner´s auction house website.

The German-born physicist, most famous for his theory of relativity, was on a lecture tour in Japan in 1922.

He had recently been informed that he was to receive the Nobel Prize for physics, and his fame outside of scientific circles was growing.

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.

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.

"Maybe if you're lucky those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip," Einstein told the messenger, according to the seller, a resident of the German city of Hamburg who wished to remain anonymous.