Kedem Auction House
The Kedem Auction House was founded in 2008 in Jerusalem as an auction house for Judaica and Israeliana (i.e. items relating to Israel and the pre-state Zionist period). Kedem is one of the leading auction houses in this field in Israel and worldwide. History. Kedem was founded by Meron Eren (born 1963), a farmer by profession, Avishai Galer (born 1974) a rabbi and teacher who lives in Modi'in Illit, and Eran Reiss (born 1966). The owners dealt for many years with Hebrew ancient books and manuscripts related to the history of the Jewish people and their  culture. While Galer specialized in religious books and rabbinical manuscripts, Eren specialized in Jewish and Modern Israeli culture. Reiss later left the auction house. At first the company's offices were located in the industrial park of Givat Shaul, the auctions taking place in Belgium House in the Givat Ram Campus of the Hebrew University. In 2012 an "Israeli art item auction" took place at the Nachum Gutman Museum. Later Kedem moved to Jerusalem's city center, to the cellar of Heichal Shlomo Building. For that purpose an area of 250 m was leased, and the place was renovated at  the cost of almost 400,000 NIS. Today Kedem includes offices, an exhibition hall, storehouse for 300 items and a vault room. Since its opening, the auction house has developed and grown to be the first in its field, sustaining a big staff of trained workers and experts. Kedem also has a representative in North America. Kedem runs seven auctions a year, the last being dedicated to the "rare and important items" category. In the first auctions the sales circulation was US $60,000, but by 2012 had increased to US $750,000. In 2014 the "rare and important items" auction  took place at the Leonardo Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem, and the opening prices' overall rate was set above USD1,000,000. Single items and whole collections in various fields connected with Judaism and the history of the Jews and the Land of Israel arrive at Kedem for evaluation and sale. Among the auction house customers are public institutions in Israel and worldwide, including national libraries and universities, public and private museums and archives, alongside private collectors. Among its permanent customers are the Library of Congress, Yale University and the British Library. In 2014 Kedem was mentioned as an optional buyer of the  art collection of the IDB Group, estimated by millions of NIS worth. Etymology. The name Kedem was chosen for the auction house because it combines meanings of past and origins ('kadum') with development and future ('kadima'). Also the auction house is active in the Middle East, known as "kedem" in ancient Hebrew. Expertise. Kedem's expertise has broadened over the years, and it now specializes in four categories: Auctions of note. Over the years Kedem sold some extraordinarily veritable and unique items, as can be studied by their price: