100 most precious artefacts

These were designed to elucidate how the Torah was to be read, punctuated and pronounced. Now they are part and parcel of every printed version of the Hebrew bible.

The history of the physical volume is almost as interesting as that of the text. The current owner, Jacqui Safra, is a member of the Safra family of Lebanese-Brazilian Jewish bankers.

A previous owner was the British Rail Pension Fund. In the late 1970s, when the fund’s trustees bought the Codex, they were roundly criticised for investing funds, intended to provide for the retirement needs of railway workers and their dependents, in assets which were hardly mainstream investments. Yet the