The Sassoon Codex, named after its best-known owner, David Solomon Sassoon (died 1942), was purchased by former U.S. ambassador and philanthropist Alfred Moses.
The Bible, which would date from the tenth century AD, or even the end of the ninth century, had been exhibited before the sale in this museum located on the campus of Tel Aviv University. "This Bible was written around the year 900, in Israel or Syria," Sharon Mintz, a specialist in Judaism texts at Sotheby's said.