World’s oldest Hebrew Bible - missing for 600 years - sells for US$38 million

The ancient text, known as the Codex Sassoon and written around 900 AD, is the most complete early copy of the Hebrew Bible. It was sold at Sotheby’s in New York

Buyer Alfred Moses, an American lawyer and former ambassador, will donate the Bible to the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel

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Sotheby’s New York unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction in February. It sold for US$38 million. Photo: AP

Published: 2:26am, 22 May 2023Updated: 3:46am, 22 May 2023

The oldest Hebrew Bible in the world has sold at Sotheby’s auction house in New York for US$38 million.

The ancient leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume, which dates from around 900 AD, “contains almost the entirety of the Hebrew Bible,” making it the most complete early copy to exist, according to Sotheby’s.

It is known as the Codex Sassoon – named after its former owner, David Solomon Sassoon, a collector who amassed a significant collection of Judaica and Hebraica manuscripts in the 20th century, Business Insider’s Lakshmi Varanasi previously reported.

It was sold on Wednesday following 10 minutes of bidding to Alfred Moses, an American lawyer and former ambassador, who will donate it to the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Sotheby’s sold the Codex Sassoon at auction in New York. The 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible, one of the oldest surviving biblical manuscripts, sold for US$38.1 million. Photo: AP

The sum was a record for a manuscript, as reported by The Financial Times newspaper, surpassing the US$31 million Microsoft’s Bill Gates paid for Da Vinci’s Codex Leicester in 1994.

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