JERUSALEM: A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible, one of the globe’s oldest surviving biblical manuscripts, sold for 38m dollars in New York on Wednesday.
The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was purchased by Alfred H Moses, a former United States ambassador to Romania.
The auction house Sotheby’s said Moses acquired the ancient text on behalf of the American Friends of ANU — Museum of the Jewish Citizens in Tel Aviv, where it would join the collection,
The manuscript had exhibited at the ANU Museum in March as part of the worldwide tour before the auction.
Sotheby’s Judaica specialist Sharon Liberman Mintz said the 38m dollar price tag, including the auction house’s fee, “reflects the profound power, influence, and significance of the Hebrew Bible, an indispensable pillar of humanity.”
It is one of the highest prices for the manuscript sold at auction. In 2021, a rare copy of the United States Constitution sold for 43m dollars. Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester sold for 31m dollars in 1994, or approximately $60m in today’s dollars.
In a historic standalone auction today, the Codex Sassoon—the earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible—sold for $38.1 million during Marquee Week at #SothebysNewYork. #AuctionUpdate pic.twitter.com/Dj3wxLpekf
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 17, 2023
Mintz said that she was “absolutely delighted by today’s monumental result, and Codex Sassoon would shortly be making its grand and permanent return to Israel, on display for the globe to see.”
