The “Codex Sassoon,” an ancient Hebrew Bible written in the late 9th or early 10th century, was purchased Wednesday at Sotheby’s in New York City for $38.1 million.
For the record: The price for “The Good Book” includes the auction house’s fee.
Who bought the Bible?
The nearly complete ancient Hebrew Bible was purchased by former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses, Sotheby’s said in statement.
Moses bought it on behalf of the American Friends of ANU, according to the sale organizer, and donated to ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, where it will join a collection.
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Why was it so expensive?
According to Sotheby’s Judaica specialist Sharon Liberman Mintz, the price “reflects the profound power, influence, and significance of the Hebrew Bible, which is an indispensable pillar of humanity.”
At 1,110 years old, the Codex Sassoon is said to be “the earliest, most complete Hebrew Bible” ever found, Sotheby’s said.
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The purchase is one of the most expensive prices for a manuscript fetched at auction, The Associated Press reported. In 2021, a copy of the U.S. Constitution sold for $43 million and in 1994, Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester sold for $31 million (about $60 million today).
Where did the Codex Sassoon name come from?
The leather-bound, “handwritten parchment volume” got its name from David Solomon Sassoon of London, who purchased the Bible in 1929, Sotheby’s said. Sassoon, who lived in London and was the son of an Iraqi Jewish business magnate, was “a passionate collector” of Jewish manuscripts who had “a special affinity for Bibles in particular,” the sale organizer said.
After Sassoon died in 1942, Sassoon’s estate was broken up. The “Codex Sassoon” 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.
“Codex Sassoon has long held a revered and fabled place in the pantheon of surviving historic documents and is undeniably one of the most important and singular texts in human history,” said Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts, in the auction’s details about the manuscript.
Sassoon,. He purchased the Bible in 1929 and after he died in 1942, the sale organizer said. “Codex Sassoon” got its name in 1929.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
