$9.3 Million Talmud Breaks Auction Record for Judaica

A 16th-century copy of the Talmud was on Tuesday sold at a New York auction for $9.3 million – a record for Judaic antiques.

A source confirmed that the buyer was Leon Black, a New York businessman. Sotheby’s declared that the sale was a world record for any Judaic item, according to Tablet Magazine.

The rare edition of the Babylonian Talmud was printed by Daniel Bomberg in the 16th century and was estimated to fetch about $5-7 million. Bomberg was the first person to print the full edition of the Babylonian Talmud, making the manuscripts he printed among the most valuable in the Hebrew language. A mere 14 complete copies of the Talmud printed by Bomberg are known to exist in the world.