A rare copy of the US Constitution printed 237 years ago and sent to the states to be ratified was sold for $9 million at an auction Thursday evening 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 wasn't immediately released, per the AP. Bidding took just over seven minutes, with bids coming in at $50,000 intervals, mostly over the phone. There was a pause at $8.5 million, then another after someone on the phone bid $9 million. "Just another second or two. Savor it a little bit selling here at nine million," said auctioneer and document owner Andrew Brunk.
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'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. What happened to the document up for auction Thursday between Thomson's signature and 2022 isn't known.
Two years ago, a property was being cleared out in Edenton, 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 metal filing cabinet with a can of stain on top, in a long-neglected room of the house. The document was a broadsheet that could be folded one time like a book. Along with the Constitution on the broadsheet is a letter from George Washington asking for ratification. He acknowledged there'd have to be compromise, and that certain rights the states enjoyed would have to be given up for the nation's long-term health.
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