Copy of the U.S Constitution up for auction

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Photo by Jonathan Thorne CC (https://www.flickr.com/photos/thorne-enterprises/498309798/)

Starting in November, a copy of the Constitution will be up for auction to be privately owned. “I would hope that whoever purchases it is going to put it into a museum or put it to where it can be displayed to the public,” AP Government teacher Amanda Peters said.

Michael Giatrakis, Staff Reporter

Owning one of the surviving 11 original copies of the U.S. Constitution is a possibility for those who are willing to pay the expected price of $15-20 million. The only privately owned copy of the Constitution will be held up for auction by Sotheby’s starting in November. 

“The Goldman Constitution ranks as one of the most rare and coveted historical documents that has ever come to auction,” Selby Kiffer, senior specialist in Sotheby’s books & manuscripts department, said in a statement.

This unsigned original copy of the Constitution was last sold in 1988 for $165,000 to a private buyer, but AP Government teacher Amanda Peters hopes for a different outcome this time. 

“I would hope that whoever purchases it is going to put it into a museum or put it to where it can be displayed to the public,” AP Government teacher Amanda Peters said. “I think just putting it up in your home, just being able to say that you have a copy of the original constitution and have it hidden away. I guess I would hope for a more virtuous society in which it’s more we not me, so I would hope that they would display it somewhere public.”

Fellow government teacher Carly Myers also believes the right choice would be to donate the copy to a museum.

“Not all of us right now have the capability to go to D.C. and look at the actual Constitution ourselves,” Myers said. “So, I think it would be more better aligned with educating the people of our community by having it in a location where we can all have access to it. The best benefit is definitely to donate to a museum or some sort of historical advocacy group that could maintain the document for sure.”

While both teachers believe the copy should go to a museum of some sort, Peters thinks the auction will help society become more aware and knowledgeable of the Constitution.

“The actual auction of it kind of brings up and kind of heightens people’s attention to it, and I always think that’s a good thing,” Peters said. “So I think anytime you raise an interest it’s a good thing because people want to know more.”