Staff writer at Forbes. Email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @mtindera07.
, because he had more time to spend reading than Gates did. So Gates sort of went out and bought the ultimate book. With closing fees from the auction house, it came out to $30.8 million.I'm looking through a copy of what’s now called the Codex Leicester, which I purchased online for about $30. When Bill Gates bought the manuscript, rather than naming it the Codex Gates after himself, he decided to rename it the Codex Leicester after an earlier owner.
While dozens of manuscripts like the Codex have managed to survive the centuries intact, the Codex Leicester is the only da Vinci notebook that is still in private hands. The rest are owned by museums around the world. Inside besides da Vinci's writings, there are also about 360 drawings and diagrams throughout the manuscript. According to the Christie's auction catalogue for the 1994 sale, the Codex was described as being in “good” and “stable” condition.
While Hammer was alive, we reported that Oxy shareholders sued three times asking to be reimbursed for what Hammer spent on art and the museum. Our 1994 story said Hammer was a master at litigation, and the aggrieved shareholders had to settle to keep building costs at $60 million. Hammer somehow convinced the courts he was increasing shareholder value.
So it's difficult to get much better than someone who has actually appraised an item. But we ended up contacting others who we thought might know the work well, too. We should note here that we did reach out to Christie's, as well as Bill Gates to ask if they had any comments on the value of the Codex today. And if Gates himself had the Codex appraised since he bought it. But Christie's declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Gates never responded to our questions.
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