A rare 237-year-old privately held copy of the US Constitution sold for $9M at auction yesterday. The artifact is one of 100 official copies printed in 1787 and is among eight copies known to exist today that were sent to state leaders for review before being formally adopted. Seven of the eight copies are held by public institutions. See photos here.
The sold Constitution was discovered in 2022 inside a metal filing cabinet in a neglected room of a property in Edenton, North Carolina, once owned by the state’s first governor, Samuel Johnston. Johnston, who was governor from 1787 to 1789, oversaw the state convention that ratified the Constitution. The copy was also found with a letter from George Washington asking for ratification.
The last copy of the Constitution sent to states was sold for $400 in 1891. The last copy of the Constitution sent to delegates (one of 14 known copies) was sold to billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin for a record $43.2M in 2021, who outbid cryptocurrency group ConstitutionDAO.
