Earliest known Ten Commandments stone inscription sells for £800,000
THE earliest known complete stone inscription of the Ten Commandments has sold for more than £800,000.
The square 200lbs tablet dates back to the fourth century and adorned an ancient synagogue in Israel that was destroyed by the Romans between 400AD to 600AD.
The 'thou shalt' commandments were chiseled into the white marble slab in 20 lines of letters in an early Hebrew script called Samaritan.
The 2ft by 2ft tablet was uncovered in 1913 during excavations for a railway station near Yavneh in Israel.
The Biblical tablet was acquired by an Arab man who set it in the floor of his courtyard and as a result years of foot traffic wore down some of the letters set in the centre.
In 1943 it was acquired by a Mr Y. Kaplan, who owned it for 50 years before it was bought by antiquities dealer Robert Deutsch in the 1990s.
A prominent rabbi obtained it for his Living Torah Museum in New York in 2005 where it has since been displayed with the blessing of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
Last night 50 important items from the museum's collection were sold at auction in Los Angeles, with the tablet leading the way.
The sale of this tablet does not mean it will be hidden away
The tablet sold for a hammer price of $850,000 (£682,000). With fees added on the total amount paid by the winning bidder was $1.02million (£818,000).
Its pres-sale estimate was £500,000.
Because it as a National Treasure of Israel, the IAA made it a condition of its sale that the new buyer must agree to place the object on public display.
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David Michaels, director of antiquities for Los Angeles-based Heritage Auctions, said: "The sale of this tablet does not mean it will be hidden away from the public.
"The new owner is under obligation to display the tablet for the benefit of the public."
Mr Michaels added: "There is nothing more fundamental to our shared heritage than the 10 Commandments."
The tablet actually lists nine of the 10 commonly known Biblical Commandments from the Book of Exodus, omitting 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain'.
This is replaced with a commandment commonly employed by the Samaritan sect exhorting worshippers to 'raise up a temple' on Mount Gerizim, the holy mountain of the Samaritans, located near the West Bank city of Nablus.