The Paul G. Allen Collection appeared in three Christie’s sales in 2024—not one upcoming auction. The objects ranged from Puma computer-connected running shoes and a Pac-Man arcade game to a meteorite, a Titanic menu, space photography and an Einstein letter. The dollar figures reported at the time were pre-sale estimates, not final prices.
Three Christie’s sales, held in 2024
The headline’s “upcoming” refers to a preview published on August 21, 2024. Christie’s scheduled two online sales, from August 23 through September 12, and a live New York sale on September 10. Those dates have passed.
KUOW identified the sales as Firsts: The History of Computing from the Paul G. Allen Collection, Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from the Paul G. Allen Collection, and Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity from the Paul G. Allen Collection. Together, they covered computing, art, technology and history. The computing sale included early machines and software-related material; the art sale explored visions of space travel and technological futures; the live sale brought together objects from several fields. KUOW’s 2024 report described the three sales and their contents.
Notable objects and the estimates reported in 2024
The following figures are estimates reported by GeekWire’s August 2024 preview or KUOW’s contemporaneous coverage. They are not realized auction prices or current valuations.
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| Object | Reported pre-sale estimate | What made it notable |
|---|---|---|
| Puma RS-Computer shoes | $1,000–$2,000 | GeekWire described them as a 2018 re-release of Puma’s 1986 running shoe design. A chip in the heel, USB charging and Bluetooth smartphone connectivity set the model apart; the report said 86 pairs were released and identified the pair as size 9. |
| Strati 3D-printed car | $5,000–$8,000 | GeekWire reported that Local Motors made the chassis and body panels with a large-scale 3D printer. The car comprised 49 parts and reportedly took about 44 hours to print. |
| Pac-Man arcade game | $2,000–$3,000 | An arcade-game collectible in a collection that spanned both computing history and popular technology. |
| Microsoft green-eyed mouse | $1,000–$1,500 | GeekWire said the auction notes described an optical sensor rather than ball tracking, along with an ergonomic shape. |
| Titanic first-class luncheon menu, dated April 14, 1912 | $30,000–$50,000 | GeekWire reported that it was associated with Abraham Lincoln Salomon, a first-class passenger who survived the disaster. |
| Matchless Canyon Diablo meteorite | $100,000–$150,000 | According to the lot description as relayed by GeekWire, the meteorite was more than 4 billion years old and its impact occurred near present-day Winslow, Arizona, about 49,000 years ago. |
| Atari Pong home console with a pale yellow Toshiba television | $3,000–$5,000 | GeekWire placed Pong’s arrival in home gaming in 1975; the lot paired the console with a television. |
| Two Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs | $4,000–$6,000 | GeekWire described them as 1960s scenes at the John F. Kennedy Space Center. |
| 1960s astronaut spacesuits | $10,000–$150,000 | KUOW reported this estimate range for the suits. |
| Jacques Cousteau pitchbook, 1966 | Up to $15,000 | KUOW reported the estimate for the pitchbook. |
| Einstein letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt | $4–$6 million | KUOW reported that only two versions existed, with one held by the FDR Presidential Library. This was a pre-sale estimate, not a sale result. |
Why the collection crossed so many subjects
The lots connected inventions and ideas with their cultural and historical settings: early computing, consumer electronics, arcade gaming, space exploration, art and objects linked to major events. KUOW quoted Christie’s America Chairman Marc Porter describing the collection as unusually diverse and a record of “the history of human science and technological ingenuity.” Porter also said Allen collected, preserved and sometimes restored objects, drawing inspiration from them and sharing many publicly.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the reported estimates do—and do not—tell you
An estimate is an auction house’s pre-sale guide, not a record of what a lot ultimately sold for. The contemporaneous reports cited here do not provide realized prices, and they do not establish the objects’ present-day market values. They also do not give enough consistent condition information to make a full valuation comparison across these very different lots.
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Read the figures as a snapshot of how the objects were presented ahead of the 2024 sales. The estimates offer a useful comparison of the range—from a few thousand dollars for items such as the Pac-Man game to millions for the Einstein letter—but not a conclusion about what buyers paid or what any object is worth now.
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