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A Hebrew Bible more than 1,000 years old and described as “one of the most important and singular texts in human history” has become the most valuable manuscript ever sold at auction.
The Codex Sassoon, dating from the late 9th or early 10th century, sold for $38.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday. It is believed to be the earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible. The last manuscript to top sales records was Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester, which sold for $30.8 million in 1994, according to Sotheby’s.
The Codex Sassoon fell short of its high estimate of $50 million, however. Prior to the sale, it went on exhibit in the UK and Israel.
Sharon Mintz, Sotheby’s senior Judaica specialist, books and manuscripts, told CNN ahead of the auction that “this is the most important document to come to auction ever.”
The Hebrew Bible is the foundation of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Scholars have long been aware of the codex named after renowned Judaica collector David Sassoon (1880-1942), but it has remained largely out of public view, Sotheby’s noted in a news release.
Mintz described the Codex Sassoon, which includes 792 parchment pages — made from animal skins — and weighs about 26.5 pounds, as a “lavish production that only the most wealthy could have afforded.
