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An violin previously in the possession of the famous scientist has gone for nearly a million pounds during a sale.

The 1894 Zunterer violin is considered to have been Einstein's first instrument and was initially projected to achieve around three hundred thousand pounds as it went up for auction in South Cerney, Gloucestershire.

One philosophical text which Einstein gave to a friend was also sold at a price of £2.2k.

Each of the final bids will have a further 26.4% commission added on top, which means the total cost for the violin will rise above £1m.

Bidding specialists think that once the fees are included, the sale may become the record for a violin not previously owned by a concert violinist or crafted by Stradivari – with the earlier record belonging to a violin that was perhaps used on the Titanic.

One bicycle seat once possessed by the physicist remained unsold in the bidding and may be put up again.

All pieces up for auction were passed to his colleague and academic von Laue in the latter part of 1932.

Soon after, Einstein departed to the United States to flee the growth of prejudice and the Nazi regime in his homeland.

Von Laue gifted them to a contact and follower of the scientist, Margarete after twenty years, and the seller was her great-great granddaughter that has put them up for sale.

Another violin formerly possessed by the scientist, which was gifted to Einstein upon his arrival in America in 1933, went for in a sale for $516,500 (£370,000) in NYC during 2018.