A Hebrew Bible more than 1,000 years old is set to fetch a record-breaking price when it goes up for auction in New York in May, Sotheby's auction house announced this week.
The Codex Sassoon, which dates from the late ninth to early tenth century, is the earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible ever discovered.
It will become the most expensive historical document to ever go under the hammer when Sotheby's puts it up for auction on 16 May, expected to top the record $43.2 million paid for a first printing of the US Constitution in 2021.
It is "undeniably one of the most important and singular texts in human history", said Richard Austin, Sotheby's global head of books and manuscripts.
The Codex Sassoon is one of only two manuscripts containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible – with the exception of a dozen missing leaves – to have survived into the modern era.
It is older than the other version, the Leningrad Codex, by nearly a century.
Coming to auction this May is one of the most impressive artifacts of human history and culture: The Codex Sassoon Hebrew Bible.
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) February 15, 2023
Over 1,000 years old, the bible puts an end to the great “silent period,” during which virtually no Hebrew literature survives. pic.twitter.com/DoKWEi2cXo
The codex, or manuscript, bridges the Dead Sea Scrolls – which date back as early as the third century BC – and the Hebrew Scriptures in the form they are known today.
It is named for previous owner David Solomon Sassoon, a collector in the early 20th century who assembled the most significant private collection of ancient Jewish texts in the world. He acquired the codex in 1929.
It is currently owned by Jacqui Safra, a Swiss investor and collector.
The document is now being auctioned for the first time in more than 30 years, with a pre-sale estimate of between $30 million (€28 million) and $50 million (€46.8 million).
It will go on public display ahead of the sale, with stops in London, Tel Aviv, Dallas and Los Angeles before reaching New York.
