10. Gutenberg Bible – $4.9 million ($10.2 million in 2016)
The Gutenberg Bible is also known as the Mazarin Bible. 49 copies were printed by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany from the year of 1450 to 1455. One of them is displayed at the New York Public Library. It was bought by James Lenox back in 1847.
Another copy hit a smashing record of auctioned bible for its sale price of $4.9 million in 1987. That is $10.2 million today. The Bible was sold at Christie’s after being displayed for a month in Japan.
It was bought by one of Japan’s biggest booksellers, Maruzen Co. Ltd. Perhaps planning to sell it again in several years for another smashing record?
One of the reasons why this Bible is worth that amount of money is its high aesthetic and artistic qualities. Written in Latin, it was the first mass-printed major book.
