Oldest Inscribed Tablet of the Ten Commandments Sold For $5.04m

The oldest inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments which dates to the Late Roman-Byzantine period (ca. 300–800 CE) has been sold for $5,040,000 at Sotheby’s New York, achieving well above its pre-sale estimate of $1m – $2m. 

The 115-pound marble artifact inscribed in Paleo-Hebrew was bought by an anonymous buyer who plans to donate it to an Israeli institution.

"The result reflects the unparalleled importance of this artifact," said Richard Austin, Sotheby’s Global Head of Books & Manuscripts. "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."

Unearthed in 1913, after being used as a paving stone, the tablet was identified in 1943 by archaeologist Dr. Jacob Kaplan as a rare Samaritan Decalogue. It features nine Biblical commandments and a unique directive to worship on Mount Gerizim, central to Samaritan tradition. In 1947, Kaplan published its significance in the Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, explaining its 1913 discovery during railroad excavations.