Rare Original Copy of US Constitution Found Buried in Filing Cabinet Sells for $9 Million
A rare piece of American history just sold at an auction for a hefty $9 million price tag last week.
A 237-year-old copy of the United States Constitution sold at an auction in North Carolina, two years after it was found collecting dust in a filing cabinet on a plantation in the state.
The rare document is one of about 100 copies printed by the secretary of the Continental Congress in 1787 and sent to the states to be ratified. It is the only copy to be privately owned.
Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina, sold the document in just seven minutes. The auction was originally scheduled for September 28, but Hurricane Helene delayed it.
Bids came in at $500,000 intervals mostly over the phone. Auctioneer and auction house owner Andrew Brunk said there was a brief pause at $8.5 million, but the final bid stopped at $9 million.
“Just another second or two. Savor it a little bit. [It is] selling here at nine million,” he said.
Brunk told CBS News that the final price, including the buyer’s premium, was $11,070,000. The buyer has remained anonymous.
“To go from a filing cabinet in Edenton, North Carolina to being sold for $11 million is quite a journey,” said Brunk.
The document was found on Hayes Farm, a 184-acre plantation in Edenton, North Carolina, which was once owned by Samuel Johnston.
Johnston 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.
In 2022, the home was cleared out after being sold to the state to become a historic site.
The copy was found in a squat, two-drawer metal filing cabinet with a can of stain on top. The filing cabinet was in a neglected room along with chairs and a dusty bookcase.
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Along with the copy of the Constitution was a letter from George Washington to Johnston asking for ratification.
In the letter, Washington 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 Associated Press reports.
A total of 100 copies of the Constitution were printed for ratification, but only a handful of copies still exist.
The Constitution wasn’t the only document sold at a huge price tag that day.
Brunk Auctions also sold a 1776 watermarked first draft of the Articles of Confederation for $1 million.
Auction officials were not sure how much the 237-year-old Constitution would sell for when it came into their possession.
The last time a copy of the Constitution that was sent to the states was up for auction was in 1891. It sold for $400.
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 – a record for a book or document.
“It’s a privilege to have it here. It’s been quite a ride,” Brunk said.
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