Two years after the only known private copy of the U.S. Constitution printed by Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, was found in a filing cabinet in a North Carolina home, the document has been sold at auction for $9 million .
Until 2022, the 237-year-old document collected dust in a metal filing cabinet under a dye box in a long-forgotten storage room inside the house.
The Edenton, North Carolina, home was once owned by Samuel Johnston, the state’s governor from 1787 to 1789, and was in the process of being emptied. It’s not clear how this ended up in the Cabinet.
Thomson printed approximately 100 copies of the Constitution during the existence of the Continental Congress, and only eight still exist, seven of which are state-owned.
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A 1787 copy of the U.S. Constitution sold for $9 million is on display at Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
“This is the connection point between the government and the people. The preamble – ‘We, the people’ – is where the government asks the people to give them power,” the auctioneer previously said Andrew Brunk, owner of Brunk Auctions. Associated Press.
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He said it took just seven minutes for the document to reach its final bid of $9 million on Thursday, with most of it coming over the phone in $500,000 intervals.
Part of a copy of the 1787 U.S. Constitution, which sold for $9 million, is displayed on a screen at Brunk Auctions. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
“I get calls every week from people who think they have a Declaration of Independence or a Gettysburg Address, and most of the time it’s just a replica. But every now and then something important comes up. discovered,” said Seth Kaller, historical document appraiser. Associated Press before the auction. “It’s a whole other level of importance.”
The document is 237 years old. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, file)
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“It’s a privilege to have it here. It’s been quite an adventure,” Brunk said of the document, which was supposed to be auctioned in late September but was delayed until Thursday due to the hurricane Helene.
The document was printed in 1787 after the Constitutional Convention, during which the framework for the Constitution and American government was drafted. It was then sent to Congress so it could be ratified by the states.
