A rare copy of the US Constitution up for auction
Sotheby’s estimates the value of this copy, signed September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, between 15 and 20 million dollars.
It is an “extremely rare” document since only “eleven known copies” remain, whereas “five hundred” had probably been printed.
AFP
An extremely rare original copy of the American Constitution signed on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia will soon be auctioned in New York for an estimated value between 15 and 20 million dollars (between 14 and 18.6 million francs), announced Friday the Sotheby’s house.
Sotheby’s is exhibiting until Sunday a private collection of American constitutional documents dating from the revolutionary period, 1776 to 1789, including the famous Constitutional Charter signed in Philadelphia by the “Founding Fathers” of the United States of America, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison.
For Selby Kiffer, a historian expert in manuscripts and ancient books at Sotheby’s, it is a “fantastic first (copy) print of the Constitution of the United States, probably printed September 16 (1787) in the evening”.
“Extremely rare”
A document “extremely rare” since there are only “eleven known copies” while “five hundred” had probably been printed, explained to AFP Selby Kiffer on the occasion of the 234th anniversary of the American Constitution.
The constitutional text which begins with this famous formula “We, the people of the United States, with a view to forming a more perfect union, (…) we decree and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”, was estimated by Sotheby’s between 15 and 20 million dollars and will be auctioned at the end of November.
Selby Kiffer assures that he does not fear that this copy – the only one still belonging to an individual, the American collector Dorothy Tapper Goldman – may go abroad, even if he thinks that the document, in a rather exceptional state of conservation, will remain in the United States.
Tense political climate
Sotheby’s has chosen to exhibit this collection of American constitutional history in a tense and polarized political climate in the United States. On the eve of a demonstration scheduled for Saturday in Washington by supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump in support of the rioters arrested for having participated in the murderous assault on Congress on January 6.
The event caused a political earthquake in the United States and a shock wave abroad. Hundreds of pro-Trump demonstrators had then forced the entrance of Congress, on Capitol Hill, when parliamentarians were gathered there to certify the victory of Democrat Joe Biden over the outgoing Republican President.
Selby Kiffer finds “very interesting that the Constitution is still the subject of debate” and underlines that “in the current political climate (the Constitution) is as much debated as it was when it was ratified in 1787 and 1788”.
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