Exceeding expectations, the oldest known stone tablet of the Ten Commandments sold for $5 million at Sotheby’s.
The Ten Commandments, said to have been given to Moses by God, are a crucial component in Judaism and Christianity. The marble slab in question is estimated to have been made between 300 and 800 CE and might have been used as a slab on pavements. Written in Paleo-Hebrew script, it is two feet long and weighs 155 pounds. Not only is it the oldest, but it is also the only ancient stone tablet of its kind that is not incomplete from damage. However, it does not include the 3rd commandment regarding not taking the name of God in vain.
The slab was first unearthed during railroad excavations in then-Palestine in 1913. In 1943, Jacob Kaplan identified the artifact as the Ten Commandments. In 1947, Kaplan published his findings. The tablet came under the possession of an Israeli dealer in 1995 and then under the Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn. In 2016, collector Mitchell S. Cappell bought it for $850,000.
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It had been in Cappell’s possession until it went up to the auction block at Sotheby’s on Wednesday. Despite pre-sale estimates of $1 – $2 million, the object exceeded all expectations by fetching $5 million after a fierce bidding war. Richard Austin, global head of books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, said: “The result reflects the unparalleled importance of this artifact. To stand before this tablet is an experience unlike any other — it offers a direct connection to the shared roots of faith and culture that continue to shape our world today.”