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50
J T S P U R CH A S E
There is testimony that as early as February 1984, the Jewish
Theological Seminary told Sotheby’s of its interest in purchasing
privately the fifteenth century illuminated Prague Bible and a four
teenth century Catalan Machzor—the two prize lots of the sale.
Sotheby’s declined because the consignor preferred “a public auc
tion because it would generate a higher sales price.” “In late May
or early June 1984—after various Jewish groups had begun to com
plain about the June 26 auction—Saul Kagan, the Executive Sec
retary of the JRSO, approached Menahem Schmelzer, the chief
librarian of the JTS, and urged that the JTS purchase the Bible and
Machzor. Mr. Kagan told Dr. Schmelzer that such a purchase [by
a public institution] would constitute a complete resolution of the
concerns of the Jewish Community regarding the June 26 auc
tion.”6
A few days before the auction, on June 22, 1984, the negotia
tions for this private sale were completed, and JTS is reported to
have bought these two lots for $900,000, $25,000 less than the
higher side of the estimated prices at auction. It was very widely ru
mored that it was Ivan Boesky who provided the gift funds to JTS,
or perhaps was the actual purchaser who would later give the
manuscripts toJTS .7There is a likelihood that the Jewish National
and University Library also negotiated for a private sale, but noth
ing seems to have come of it.8
This private sale proved to be a source of major disagreement
between the Attorney General and Sotheby’s, et al. After the series
of complaints about the sale from the Anti-Defamation League,
the JRSO, and various private persons, the Attorney General be
gan an investigation into the propriety of the sale, given the ques
tions of provenance, the unnamed consignors, and legal title. A
belief apparently emerged that, if the two prime manuscripts could
be sold to an appropriate Jewish public institution where they
6. Findings o fFact and Conclusions o fLaw o fDefendants. . . (6/14/85), pp. 59-60.
7. Richard J. Davis, A ffidavit. . . , August 14, 1984, p. 6.
8. Majorie E. Stone, A ffidavit. . . , June 27, 1984, p. 6.