NEW YORK—The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sold for more than $5 million at an auction on Wednesday.
Sotheby’s said the 155-pound marble slab was acquired by an anonymous buyer who plans to donate it to an Israeli institution.
The New York-based auction house said the final price exceeded the presale estimate of $1 million to $2 million and followed more than 10 minutes of “intense bidding” during the global competition.
The tablet dates from 300 to 800 A.D. and is inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script—the only complete example of its kind from antiquity, according to Sotheby’s….