NEW YORK: A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the world's oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold for $38 million in New York on Wednesday.
The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was purchased by former US Ambassador to Romania Alfred H Moses on behalf of the American Friends of ANU and donated to ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, where it will join the collection, Sotheby's said in a statement.
The manuscript was exhibited at the ANU Museum in March as part of a worldwide tour before the auction.
[caption id="attachment_36624" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
Sotheby's Judaica specialist Sharon Liberman Mintz said the $38 million price tag, which includes the auction house's fee, "reflects the profound power, influence, and significance of the Hebrew Bible, which is an indispensable pillar of humanity."
[caption id="attachment_36623" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
It's one of the highest prices for a manuscript sold at auction. In 2021, a rare copy of the US Constitution sold for $43 million. Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester sold for $31 million in 1994 or around $60 million in today's dollars.
Mintz said she was "absolutely delighted by today's monumental result and that Codex Sassoon will shortly be making its grand and permanent return to Israel, on display for the world to see."
[caption id="attachment_36621" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
The Codex Sassoon is believed to have been fabricated sometime between 880 and 960.
It got its name in 1929 when it was purchased by David Solomon Sassoon, a son of an Iraqi Jewish business magnate who filled his London home with his collection of Jewish manuscripts.
[caption id="attachment_36622" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
Sassoon's estate was broken up after he died and the biblical codex was sold by Sotheby's in Zurich in 1978 to the British Rail Pension Fund for around $320,000, or $1.4 million in today's dollars.
The pension fund sold the Codex Sassoon 11 years later to Jacqui Safra, a banker and art collector, who bought it in 1989 for $3.19 million ($7.7 million in today's dollars). Safra was the seller on Wednesday.
By RSS/AP
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FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
Sotheby's Judaica specialist Sharon Liberman Mintz said the $38 million price tag, which includes the auction house's fee, "reflects the profound power, influence, and significance of the Hebrew Bible, which is an indispensable pillar of humanity."
[caption id="attachment_36623" align="alignnone" width="1000"] FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
It's one of the highest prices for a manuscript sold at auction. In 2021, a rare copy of the US Constitution sold for $43 million. Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester sold for $31 million in 1994 or around $60 million in today's dollars.
Mintz said she was "absolutely delighted by today's monumental result and that Codex Sassoon will shortly be making its grand and permanent return to Israel, on display for the world to see."
[caption id="attachment_36621" align="alignnone" width="1000"] FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
The Codex Sassoon is believed to have been fabricated sometime between 880 and 960.
It got its name in 1929 when it was purchased by David Solomon Sassoon, a son of an Iraqi Jewish business magnate who filled his London home with his collection of Jewish manuscripts.
[caption id="attachment_36622" align="alignnone" width="1000"] FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption]
Sassoon's estate was broken up after he died and the biblical codex was sold by Sotheby's in Zurich in 1978 to the British Rail Pension Fund for around $320,000, or $1.4 million in today's dollars.
The pension fund sold the Codex Sassoon 11 years later to Jacqui Safra, a banker and art collector, who bought it in 1989 for $3.19 million ($7.7 million in today's dollars). Safra was the seller on Wednesday.
By RSS/AP
READ ALSO:
Published Date: May 18, 2023, 12:00 am
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