Rare 1787 copy of U.S. Constitution to be sold at auction
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A detail of the U.S. Constitution's preamble, printed on page 1, and the ratification resolution on page 4, signed by Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson. Photo: Brunk Auctions
An original printed copy of the U.S. Constitution that was signed in 1787 and discovered inside an old filing cabinet in North Carolina is expected to fetch millions of dollars at auction this month.
Why it matters: This rare document that's signed by Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson "is one of only eight known surviving signed ratification copies of the United States Constitution, and the only known in private hands," per a statement from auctioneer Brunk Auctions.
Driving the news: The document was discovered in 2022 at Hayes Farm, a 184-acre plantation in Edenton, N.C., when the property was being cleared out and sold to the state for preservation, according to Brunk Auctions.
- The document will be sold in Asheville, N.C., on Sept. 28, though someone has already made the minimum bid of $1 million.
- The identity of the seller has not been revealed.
Situational awareness: Members of the public can view the document from 1-4:30pm on Friday at Federal Hall National Memorial, 26 Wall Street, New York City — the place where the Confederation Congress met in September 1787 and resolved to send the Constitution to states to ratify.
State of play: The Edenton property at which the document was found "was purchased in 1765 by Samuel Johnston, who in 1787-1789 was governor of North Carolina and presided over the state's two ratification conventions," per Brunk Auctions' statement.
- "In 1865, it was acquired by the Wood family, which has held it for seven generations," it said.
- "Previously, most of the books, documents and artifacts from the home were donated to North Carolina, and a recreation of the Hayes Library was built at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill."
The big picture: Thomson signed "only a fraction" of the 100 copies he ordered to be printed for sending to the legislatures of the 13 original states, according to Brunk Auctions.
- The only other recorded sale of a copy of the Constitution signed by Thomson was in 1891, when it fetched $400.
- Sotheby's sold a first-edition copy of the Constitution at auction for a record $43.2 million in 2021.
- Seth Kaller, a historic document expert who was involved in bidding on that Constitutional Convention printing and is collaborating with Brunk on the latest sale, said the ratification copy now up for auction "is rarer and arguably more significant."
Go deeper: Crypto believers bid on U.S. Constitution
