NEW YORK CITY — On Thursday, December 15, Sotheby’s offered “The Halpern Judaica Collection: Tradition and Treasure, Part I,” 138 lots from the collection of the late Judaica collector, Abraham Halpern. Noted for its breadth and depth, the jewel of Halpern’s collection was the textiles, many of of the lots were rare survivors of which few if any other examples are known. Leading the sale at $170,100 was an important early Eighteenth Century Italian torah ark curtain. It was described as a tour-de-force of needlework that depicted the entirety of the Ten Commandments as they appear in Exodus 20; it is the only known curtain to include the text in full. Estimated at $30/50,000, it attracted interest from several institutions and private collectors but in the end, an institution in the United States prevailed. It was the highest result in a sale that tallied $2.3 million. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. A more extensive review of both sessions of the Halpern collection will appear in a future issue.