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Bible donated to charity shop sells for whopping $115,000

A rare Bible that was donated to a charity shop in the UK has sold for a staggering £56,000 ($115,000) at auction.

The book, penned between 1815 and 1822, was the first written in Chinese, and was left at an Oxfam shop in the town of Chelmsford, about 70km north-east of central London.

Volunteers thought it was valuable and the charity put it up for auction, believing it could fetch about £800.

Part of the Bible, the first written in Chinese, that dates to 1815. (Bonhams) (Supplied)

But shop manager Nick Reeves said charity workers were "absolutely speechless" when the text went for £56,280.

"We were sat watching the bidding and just seeing it go up and up. When it finally ended, I was in complete shock. We were absolutely speechless.

"It's amazing to think that a donation from our shop could help raise that much money Oxfam. It's just wonderful."

The Bible, translated by John Lassar and Joshua Marshman, was among 23 other books donated to various Oxfam shops which were at auction last week. Their sale raised more than £105,000, which will go towards tackling poverty and inequality around the world.

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They included a first edition of Charles Dickens' famous novellaA Christmas Carol for £16,640 , while the initial English translation of Karl Marx'Manifesto of the Community Party went for £7040.

Bonham's books and manuscripts specialist Lorenza Gay said experts were stunned by the sale of the Bible.

"The Lassar and Marshman Chinese translation of the Bible was an exceedingly rare item, which we could not trace at auction previously.

"We hoped it would exceed the estimate, but it definitely surprised us with the final price achieved. This remarkable outcome is great news for the important work Oxfam does around the world."

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