A rare 237-year-old copy of the US Constitution has been sold at auction for a whopping $9m (£7m).
The document was discovered in a historic building in North Carolina in 2022, inside a dusty old filing cabinet.
The copy was printed in 1787 after delegates from the colonial states met for the Constitutional Convention and drafted what would become the founding document of the US federal government.
There are believed to be only eight copies like this one left in existence, and seven of them are publicly owned.
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This is the reason why I always open every drawer and try to get a look at everything whenever I see an antique. Such a cool piece of history to hold in your hands. I once found a very old world map in a school teachers’ box of modern-day maps. Spent $70 on the lot, but the old map was worth ~$800. It is nothing compared to the Constitution, but these things are out there. Just waiting for someone to stumble upon.
I think even in terms of recent history, I enjoy going through stuff before it goes in the shredder.
I’ve cleared out loads of work files that are outside of their retention period, and most of them are utter dross that have been superseded many times over, but every now and then I see a staff list with long forgotten names, and it’s a reminded to get in touch with the decent spuds that used to work there.
That, or finding an old payslip down the back of a drawer, and wondering just how I used to live on wages from that era, through the lens of 2024’s cost of living.
That’s bonkers. I can’t imagine rifling through old files and pulling something like that out. It’s pretty immediately recognizable, the only question would be just how old is it.
