A rare copy of the U.S. Constitution found inside a file cabinet in North Carolina sold for millions of dollars at a state auction Thursday.
One bidder bet more than $9 million on the incorporation documents, which was sold in less than seven minutes, Blank Auctions owner Andrew Blank confirmed. CBS News.
A rare copy of the U.S. Constitution left forgotten in a filing cabinet sells at auction for $9 million. https://t.co/Z0acnvPzWA
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 18, 2024
“It’s been quite a journey from a filing cabinet in Edenton, North Carolina to selling for $11 million,” the auction owner said.
According to the media, bids poured in at intervals of $500,000. Blank said about 10 bids were placed by phone, two were placed online and one buyer attended the auction in North Carolina in person.
The anonymous winner paid the final price of $11,070.00, including buyer’s premium, the newspaper reported.
In 2022, a copy of the U.S. Constitution was discovered in a “hefty metal file cabinet” on a 184-acre farm in Edenton. The site was cleared to be turned into a public historic site, the paper said. (Related article: 17th-century Rembrandt painting discovered in attic, sold for record sum)
Former North Carolina Governor Samuel Johnson, who served from 1787 to 1789, owned this plantation. CBS News reported that he oversaw the state conventions that ratified the U.S. Constitution.
The newspaper said several copies of the first 100 copies of the U.S. Constitution, including those sold Thursday, are known to still exist.
