A rare copy of the US Constitution is auctioned for $9 million

A rare copy of the United States Constitution printed 237 years ago and sent to the states for ratification has sold for $9 million at an auction in North Carolina.

Brunk Auctions on Thursday night sold the document, the only such copy believed to be privately owned, at a private auction. The name of the buyer was not immediately revealed.

The bidding lasted just over seven minutes, with bids coming in at intervals of $50,000, mostly over the phone.

The auction was originally scheduled to take place on September 28, but was delayed due to catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Helene in Asheville and western North Carolina.

“It is a privilege to have her here. “It’s been quite an experience,” said Andrew Brunk, auctioneer and owner of the document.

very old document

The copy was printed after the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the proposed framework for the nation’s government in 1787 and sent it to the Congress of the ineffective first American government under the Articles of Confederation, requesting that it be sent to the states for ratification. for the town.

It is one of around 100 copies printed by the secretary of that Congress, Charles Thomson. Only eight are known to exist, of which seven are publicly owned.

Thomson probably signed two copies for each of the original 13 states, certifying them. What happened to the document that went up for auction between Thomson’s signing and 2022 is a mystery.

It was found two years ago while clearing a property in Edenton, eastern North Carolina, that once belonged to Samuel Johnston. He was governor of the state from 1787 to 1789 and during his last year in office he oversaw the state convention that ratified the Constitution.

The copy was found inside a metal filing cabinet with two drawers and a can of dye on top, in a room that had been neglected for years, full of old chairs and a dusty bookcase, before the old Johnston house was preserved. The document was a sheet of paper that could be folded once like a book.

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