Christie’s said on Wednesday it was suspending the Paris auction of one of just a handful of examples of the world’s first calculating machine, developed by French mathematician and inventor Blaise Pascal in 1642.
The auction of “La Pascaline” had been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but late on Tuesday a Paris court suspended authorisation for export – meaning buyers would not be able to take it abroad.
This example is one of only nine still existing and the only one believed to be in private hands – others are held in museums.
The auction house had described the machine as “nothing less than the first attempt in history to substitute the work of a machine for that of the human mind”.
It said it had halted the sale at the instructions of the piece’s owner, after the Paris administrative court suspended an export authorisation in a provisional ruling.
The sale, part of an auction of the library of late collector Leon Parce, would be suspended pending the final decision by the court, Christie’s said.
“Pending the final judgment, given the provisional nature of this decision and in accordance with the instructions of its client, Christie’s is suspending the sale of La Pascaline,” it said.
The final court decision could take several months.
Main Image: Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) The Pascaline, surveying machine