Dead Sea Scroll fragments to go on sale for the first time

DEAD Sea Scroll fragments never shown to the public will go on sale for the first time.

The 2,000-year-old relics are being sold by an American collector through a private rare books dealer. Recent studies of the fragments have shown Hebrew lettering similar to the rest of the scrolls, which belong to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

The scrolls were first discovered by Bedouins in the West Bank in 1947 and are seen as key to understanding life in Israel during the Roman and Greek empires.

Next month, the fragments will be up for sale in London for an asking price of more than £800,000, alongside other ancient artefacts.

They are being sold by private Jewish book dealer Bernard Shapero. Bela Goldenberg Taieb, curator at Shapero Rare Books, said: “Each of the assembled artefacts is a representative of a particular field of endeavour and as such they collectively offer a truly compelling picture of the Jewish contribution to world culture.”