A rare copy of the US Constitution is being auctioned.
Sotheby’s announced on Friday, Constitution Day, that a copy of the U.S. Constitution would be auctioned in November.
The document is one of 11 surviving copies of the first official edition of the Constitution, which were produced for the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and for the Continental Congress.
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“This is the final text,” Selby Kiffer, a senior international specialist in Sotheby’s books and manuscripts, told The Associated Press. “The debate over what the Constitution would say ended with this document. The debate over whether the Constitution should be adopted had only just begun.”
Ella Hall, a book and manuscript specialist at Sotheby’s in New York, owns a 1787 edition of the US Constitution. (AP Photo / Richard Drew)
“That was the constitution, but it came into force only after it was debated and ratified,” added Kiffer. “So this was the first step in our life under this 234 year old document.”
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Kiffer estimated that there were originally several hundred copies of the constitution.
This photograph, provided by the US National Archives, shows part of the first page of the United States Constitution. (National Archives via AP)
The example that was auctioned in November is the only one in private ownership and comes from the collection of Dorothy Tapper. The document is said to raise $ 15 to 20 million.
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This is the second time Kiffer has run the auction of this copy of the Constitution. In 1988, he led the auction when it sold for only $ 165,000.
“Although it’s many years later and I’ve mastered a lot of great things and am more experienced, I have to say that the second time it’s just as exciting, if not a little more exciting,” he told AP.
Ella Hall, a book and manuscript specialist at Sotheby’s in New York, puts a printed copy of the US Constitution of 1787 in her display case. It is the only specimen that is privately owned and valued at $ 15 million to $ 20 million. (AP Photo / Richard Drew)
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The copy is one of 80 constitutional and related documents to be auctioned in November.
Proceeds from the sale of the collection will benefit the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, which is committed to promoting understanding of US democracy and how the actions of all citizens can make a difference.
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The copy can be seen in the galleries on Sotheby’s York Avenue through Sunday before traveling to Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas before returning to New York for auction.
“It would have belonged to either a member of the Continental Congress or one of the delegates to the Continental Congress. Those were the only people who had access to this first print,” said Kiffer. “Your eye immediately falls on the first line, ‘We, the people of the United States’.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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