Rare copy of US Constitution sells for £7 million at auction

A rare copy of the US Constitution printed 237 years ago and sent to the states to be ratified was sold for nine million dollars (£6.9 million) at an auction in North Carolina.

Brunk Auctions sold the document, the only copy of its type thought to be privately owned, at a private auction. The name of the buyer was not immediately released.

Bidding took just over seven minutes, with bids coming in at 50,000-dollar intervals mostly over the phone. There was a pause at 8.5 million dollars, then another after someone on the phone bid nine million dollars.

“Just another second or two. Savour it a little bit selling here at nine million,” said auctioneer and document owner Andrew Brunk.

The auction was originally set for September 28 but was delayed after Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage throughout western North Carolina.

“It’s a privilege to have it here. It’s been quite a ride,” Mr Brunk said.

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

It is one of about 100 copies printed by the secretary of that Congress, Charles Thomson. Just eight are known to still exist and the other seven are publicly owned.

Thomson likely signed two copies for each of the original 13 states, essentially certifying them.

What happened to the document up for auction on Thursday between Thomson’s signature and 2022 is not known.

Two years ago, a property was being cleared out in Edenton in eastern North Carolina that was once owned by Samuel Johnston. He was the governor of North Carolina from 1787 to 1789 and oversaw the state convention during his last year in office that ratified the Constitution.

The copy was found inside a two-drawer metal filing cabinet with a can of woodstain on top, in a room piled high with old chairs and a dusty book case, before the old Johnston house was preserved. The document was a broad sheet that could be folded one time like a book.

Along with the Constitution is a letter from George Washington asking for ratification. He acknowledged there would have to be compromise and that certain rights the states enjoyed would have to be given up for the nation’s long-term health.

The Constitution copy was not the only seven-figure purchase Thursday. A watermarked 1776 first draft of the Articles of Confederation went for one million dollars (£770,000).

Auction officials were not sure what the Constitution document would go for because there is so little to compare it to. The last time a copy of the Constitution that was sent to the states sold, it was for 400 dollars (£304) in 1891.

In 2021, Sotheby’s of New York sold one of only 14 remaining copies of the Constitution printed for the Continental Congress and delegates to the Constitutional Convention for 43.2 million dollars (£33 million), a record for a book or document.