Just 8 of These Exist. We the People Can Now Bid on It

Minimum bid for rare 237-year-old copy of US Constitution found in NC filing cabinet: $1M
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 7, 2024 11:30 AM CDT
Minimum Bid for Rare Copy of US Constitution: $1M
A 1787 copy of the US Constitution that will be put up for auction on Sept. 28 at Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina.   (Brunk Auctions via AP)

Historical document appraiser and collector Seth Kaller spreads a broadsheet of paper across a desk. It's in good enough condition that he can handle it, carefully, with clean, bare hands. There are just a few creases and tiny discolorations, even though it's just a few weeks shy of 237 years old and has spent who knows how long inside a filing cabinet in North Carolina. At the top of the first page are familiar words, but in regular type instead of the sweeping Gothic script we're used to seeing: "WE the People..." And the people will get a chance to bid for this copy of the US Constitution—the only of its type thought to be in private hands—at a sale by Brunk Auctions on Sept. 28 in Asheville, North Carolina, per the AP. The minimum bid for the auction is $1 million. There's no minimum price that must be reached.

This copy was printed after the Constitutional Convention approved the proposed framework of the nation's government in 1787 and it was ratified by the Congress of the ineffective first American government under the Articles of Confederation. It's 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. They were sent to special ratifying conventions, where representatives, all white and male, wrangled for months before accepting the structure of the US government that continues today. What happened to the document up for auction between Thomson's signature and 2022 isn't known.

Two years ago, an Edenton property once owned by Samuel Johnston, the North Carolina governor from 1787 to 1789, was being cleared out. The copy was found inside a squat, two-drawer metal filing cabinet, in a long-neglected room piled high with old chairs and a dusty bookcase, before the old Johnston house was preserved. Along with the Constitution on the broadsheet printed front and back is a letter from George Washington asking for ratification. He acknowledged there will have to be compromise, and that rights the states enjoyed will have to be given up for the nation's long-term health. "To secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each and yet provide for the interest and safety for all—individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest," wrote the man who would become the first US president. More here.

(More US Constitution stories.)

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