Jun 17, 2021 - Sale 2573

Sale 2573 - Lot 16

Price Realized: $ 845
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 250 - $ 350
"NOBEL PEACE PRIZE CAME AS A COMPLETE SURPRISE" BUNCHE, RALPH J. Two items Signed: Autograph Letter * A sheet of postage stamps. The letter, to "Dear Mr. Bean," explaining that he has learned to live with his [physical] pain, noting that his training is suited to teaching rather than government, and remarking that the Peace Prize was unexpected. 2 page, 8vo, "United Nations" stationery, written on the recto and verso of a single sheet; latter half written using different pen than first, vertical fold. The stamps, complete sheet of 50 one-cent "United Nations" stamps bearing control number "027" and "First U.N. / Issue 1951" in upper and lower margins. Signed in the lower margin. 13x8 inches; perforations extend into margins, gummed verso is original, unused, and free of hinging. New York, 4 April 1966; Np, nd

Additional Details

". . . I particularly sympathize with you in the pain you suffer. For most of my years I could not stand the thought of pain and had no resistance to it. . . . In recent years . . . I have been experiencing almost constant pain from a variety of causes and to my own surprise and satisfaction I have learned to take it quite philosophically and to live with it. . . .
". . . I trained to do academic not government work and spent a good many years as a college professor. I went into government service shortly before Pearl Harbor. The Nobel Peace Prize came as a complete surprise and it took me some time to believe the announcement. . . ."