A staff member checks the Charles Darwin Family Microscope for auction during a media preview of the Christie's London Classic Week auction in London, Britain, Dec. 3, 2021. Christie's London Classic Week presents art from antiquity to the 21st century, spanning five live auctions and four online-only sales.Photo:Xinhua

A tiny book measuring 5 millimeters on each side surprised auctioneers in Brussels by selling for $4,739.11.

Arenberg Auctions said the book, which contains the Catholic Lord's Prayer printed in Dutch, English, American English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish, was one of a few hundred published by the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany, in 1952 as a fundraising project to pay for post-war reconstruction efforts.

The auction house said the book had been expected to sell for up to $1,700, but surprised auctioneers by fetching a high bid of $3,949.61. Additional costs brought the total price to $4,739.11.

"The printed text is so minuscule that you cannot read it with the naked eye, but need a strong magnifying glass," auctioneer Henri Godts told The Guardian.

UPI