It rarely pays to be ahead of your time, especially when your pet project is the development of a free source of energy for everyone. It's tough to monetize that kind of thing -- and tougher to break it to your investors that they are now philanthropists.

Although several of Tesla's contemporaries parlayed their patents into great fortunes and built empires that stand today, Nikola Tesla’s obsession was the work itself, so he died broke and in debt. If only he had the business savvy of his former boss (that guy Edison) or the financial skills of the inventor/industrialist who licensed his work (a different guy named Westinghouse). Tesla is a hero to scientists, outsiders, artists, eccentrics, and those of us who somehow always find ourselves with nothing to do on Saturday night.

Send someone this dazzling die-cut card depicting the Wizard of Shoreham, New York* and you, too, will be ahead of your time (though not broke).

Don't have any famous last words? We give you a sticker sheet filled with quotes from Tesla, funny sayings, and traditional messages like "Happy Anniversary" (of the invention of your earthquake machine) and "Sorry" (that all your crockery is broken on account of your earthquake machine).

*Give it time. This nickname will catch on.

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