Legacy

The collection of personal items comprises 340 items. These are made of various materials and are diverse in nature and purpose. The collection represents the personal items which Nikola Tesla used in his day-to-day life, pieces of furniture, the suitcases in which Tesla’s legacy was transferred from the United States, various kinds of boxes and packaging, as well as items for various purposes, which Tesla received as gifts.

Among the personal items are Tesla’s accessories for personal hygiene: a toothbrush, shaving gear, a razor in a case, a manicure set, a comb and a table mirror, as well as items for other uses, such as dice, a penknife, two table clocks, a bottle opener, badges and boxes for various purposes. Within this collection are also items used by Tesla for work: a pen and inkwell, paper knives, a case for business cards, stamps and two intaglio seal presses for Tesla’s companies, as well as files in which Tesla kept business and private correspondence. There are also a smaller number of decorative items which Tesla probably received as gifts, such as an envelope with dried flowers. Also among the scientist’s legacy is a large number of boxes for poultry food branded Factor Auctus, the only trademark which Tesla ever registered.

An especially interesting part of the collection is made up of large items from Tesla’s room 3327 in the New Yorker Hotel in which the scientist spent the last ten years of his life: his bed, refrigerator, a metal cupboard, metal lockers and travelling cases in which Tesla’s legacy was stored in warehouses in America and in which the material reached Belgrade in 1951.