Case of the calendars, the house of Sotheby’s will auction a copy of the United States Constitution. This document, produced by the founding fathers 235 years ago at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, embodies the country’s democratic foundations. One of only two known copies of the official edition will be dispersed on December 13 in New York, the first for the document which has belonged to a private collection for 125 years.
This sale also follows that of 2021, when the second version, the Goldman Constitution, was won for an unprecedented amount of 43.2 million dollars, effectively setting a new record for a book, manuscript or printed, put on sale. auction.
The December copy of the Constitution may have first gone on sale in 1894, when the library of Georgian lawyer and politician Charles Colcock Jones disappeared. The winner was a certain Adrian Van Sinderen, starting from this text a collection of books that has become, over the years, one of the most important of the twentieth century.
The estimate for this constitution is between $ 20 and $ 30 million, the highest ever seen for a historical document. This copy will be offered to the curious and curious until November 22 in Sotheby’s gallery: it also marks the first public appearance of the Constitution after 35 years.
The text inscribed in 1787 the promise of a declaration of independence that transformed the country from a British colony to an all-American nation. However, the Declaration of Independence is much more common than this Constitution, while having equally important historical significance.
