A rare 237-year-old copy of the US Constitution was sold for $9 million at an auction in North Carolina, conducted by Brunk Auctions. on Thursday. The identity of the buyer, who participated in the private sale, remains undisclosed.
The auction lasted just over seven minutes, with bids increasing by $500,000 intervals mainly over the phone. The highest bid was $9 million.Auctioneer Andrew Brunk was quoted by the Associated Press saying, “Just another second or two. Savor it a little bit selling here at nine million.” He further added, “It’s a privilege to have it here. It’s been quite a ride.”
The auction, initially scheduled for September 28, was postponed due to the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Helene across Asheville and western North Carolina.
The rare document dates back to 1787 when it was printed after the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the nation’s framework and sent it to the Congress under the Articles of Confederation. This copy is one of about 100 printed by Charles Thomson, the Congress secretary, with only eight known to exist today. The other seven are publicly owned.
The document was discovered two years ago during the clearing of a property in Edenton, North Carolina, which was once owned by Samuel Johnston, North Carolina’s governor from 1787 to 1789. It was found in a metal filing cabinet in a neglected room.
This Constitution copy includes a letter from George Washington urging ratification. He wrote about the need for compromise and the importance of a strong central government.
Other high-value items at the auction included a 1776 draft of the Articles of Confederation sold for $1 million and a 1788 Journal of the Convention of North Carolina fetched $85,000.
Auction officials were unsure of the document’s value due to the lack of comparable sales. The previous sale of a similar document was in 1891 for $400. In 2021, Sotheby’s sold a different copy of the Constitution for $43.2 million, setting a record.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Sotheby’s in New York auctioned one of the 14 surviving original copies of the Constitution, printed for the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention delegates, for $43.2 million, setting a new record for the sale of a book or document.