A half-a-century-old handwritten prayerbook has been sold at Christie’s for nearly 200,000 Euros.

The Italian mahzor was used in synagogues in the Piedmont region in the 15th century on the days celebrating Jewish festivals,

Moshe Brown, the Amsterdam-based International Judaica Consultant to Christies who hosted the auction, described the 400-page artefact as “a unique phenomenon”.

Saying that he was not at all surprised by the high price, Brown told EJP: “This is a mahzor of such a rare beauty and quality. A mahzor like this is sold only ones every twenty years."

The book, which is illustrated with coulored ink, is covered with illustrations that one often sees in Renaissance art. For example, the title for the Day of Atonement prayer is flanked by two naked putti, baby-angels.

Brown explained why the prayerbook fetched such a large amount of money. "This mahzor is a unique phenomenon for several reasons," he said.

"The parchment of vellum they used was very expensive. Besides, mahzorim were usually very intensively used. It was read through the whole year, probably by the cantor in the synagogue. But this particular copy is still in a fine condition.”

As it is handwritten, the book retains even more value according to Brown. He added: “The text is most interesting because there are slight variations among handwritten prayerbooks that disappeared later in the printed copies. And this mahzor is beautifully illustrated."

Ideal Market

The piece was eventually bought by a Swiss collector for 182,240 Euros. A Israeli expert in handwritten, Jewish manuscripts of the middle-ages, came specially for the sale to the Netherlands to act as the agent.

This buyer was welcomed by Brown. "My experience is that private-collectors give new life to a book,” he said.

“A lot of books in university-library’s are like stones at a grave-yard, if I may say so. Sometimes they are only accessible for scholars etc. Private-collectors, by contrast, buy because they want to preserve the Jewish heritage for next generations.”

Judaica is an emotional and idealistic market. The buyer is likely to spend around 10,000 dollars restoring the mahzor and then display it at his home, or on exhibitions as a loan or a donation.

And why was such a showpiece sold in Amsterdam? Brown concluded: "In New York we would have excluded Europe and Israel, so we decided to sell it in the middle. The auction here is close to country’s like France and Germany, and Amsterdam has a rich Jewish history."