How to make it on the ‘best of’ episode of ‘Antiques Road Show’…gotta find me one of these!
710-year-old copy of Magna Carta sold in New York for $21.3 millionat 22:03 on December 18, 2007, EST.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This undated file photo released by Sotheby’s shows a copy of the Magna Carta. A 710-year-old copy of the declaration of human rights known as the Magna Carta, the version that became part of English law, was auctioned Tuesday Dec. 18, 2007 for $21.3 million (14.78 million euros), a Sotheby’s spokeswoman said. The document was bought by David Rubenstein, of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Sotheby’s
NEW YORK – A 710-year-old copy of Magna Carta – the version that became part of English law – was auctioned Tuesday for $21.3 million, a Sotheby’s spokeswoman said.
The document, which had been expected to draw bids of $30 million or higher, was bought by David Rubenstein, of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, the spokeswoman said. Sotheby’s vice-chairman David Redden called the ancient parchment “the most important document in the world, the birth certificate of freedom.” The document had been owned by the Perot Foundation since the early 1980s. It had been on exhibit at the auction house for the last 11 days. Bearing the seal of King Edward I and dated 1297, it is one of 17 known copies of the historic tract that limited the powers of the monarch. It is one of two that exist outside Britain; the other is inAustralia.
In the 1980s, it was sold by a British family for $1.5 million to the Perot Foundation, created by Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, and from 1988 until earlier this year it was on loan to the National Archives inWashington, sharing space with the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
“Over those years,” Redden said, “it may have been seen by 40 to 50 million people, certainly the most viewed version of the Magna Carta anywhere.” The Magna Carta came into existence when a group of English barons demanded King John affix his seal to a list of protections atRunnymede in 1215. Those edicts were not fulfilled but subsequent versions of the document followed for the next 80 years, until 1297, when it was codified into law.
Tuesday’s sale price included the auction house’s commission.
