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The Speculum, which heretofore had had no great intrinsic value, had suddenly become priceless as a missing piece of scholarly evidence. Since Witten had given the Vinland map and the Tartar Relation to his wife, Marston decided to give Mrs. Witten the Speculum as well, in the hope that some generous benefactor would buy all the parts and give them to the Yale Library. An anonymous donor did just that, and Yale is now the sole owner of the manuscript. The price paid is a closely guarded secret, but it was admitted to be "in the high six figures," or in the neighborhood of $1,000,000. When the manuscript went on display this week, Yale Librarian James Tanis called the map alone "the most exciting single acquisition of the Yale Library in modern times, exceeding in significance even Yale's Gutenberg Bible and its Bay Psalm Book."
