Rare copy of US Constitution collecting dust in North Carolina filing cabinet sells for $9M at auction

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Two years after the only known private copy of the U.S. Constitution printed by Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, was found in a filing cabinet of a North Carolina home, the document was sold for $9 million at auction. 

Until 2022, the 237-year-old document was collecting dust in a metal filing cabinet underneath a can of stain inside a long forgotten storage room inside the home. 

The home in Edenton, North Carolina, had once been owned by Samuel Johnston, the state’s governor from 1787 to 1789, and was being cleared out. It's not clear how it ended up in the cabinet in the first place. 

Thomson printed about 100 copies of the Constitution during the Continental Congress’ existence, and only eight are known to still exist, seven of them in public ownership.  

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A 1787 copy of the U.S. Constitution that sold for $9 million is displayed at Brunk Auctions in Asheville, N.C.  (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

"This is the point of connection between the government and the people. The Preamble — ‘We the People’ — this is the moment the government is asking the people to empower them," auctioneer Andrew Brunk, who owns Brunk Auctions, previously told The Associated Press. 

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He said it took just seven minutes for the document to reach its final $9 million bid Thursday, with most of them coming over the phone in $500,000 intervals. 

Part of a 1787 copy of the U.S. Constitution that sold for $9 million is displayed on a screen at Brunk Auctions.  (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

"I get calls every week from people who think they have a Declaration of Independence or a Gettysburg Address, and most of the time it is just a replica. But every so often, something important gets found," historical document appraiser Seth Kaller told The Associated Press before the auction. "This is a whole other level of importance."

The document is 237 years old.  (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, file)

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"It's a privilege to have it here. It's been quite a ride," Brunk said of the document, which was supposed to have been auctioned in late September but was delayed until Thursday because of Hurricane Helene. 

The document was printed in 1787 after the Constitutional Convention, during which the framework of the Constitution and America's government was drafted. It was then sent to Congress so it could be ratified by the states.