A rare copy of the United States Constitution up for auction

A rare copy of the U.S. Constitution is expected to be auctioned later this year, Sotheby’s announced on Friday.

The document, one of 11 remaining copies printed for the first time for delegates to the Continental Congress, will go up for auction on November 11. Estimates put the rare piece of American history at between $ 15 million and $ 20 million. The Associated Press (AP) reported.

“This is the final text. The debate over what the Constitution would say was over with this document. The debate on whether to adopt the Constitution was just beginning, ”Selby Kiffer, senior international specialist in Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts Department, told The Associated Press.

“It was the Constitution, but it only came into effect after it was debated and ratified. So that was the first step in the process for us to now live under this 234 year old document, ”Kiffer added.

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The single document, which comes from the collection of Dorothy Tapper, will be accompanied by nearly 80 other documents relating to the Constitution. It is currently on display to the public in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries in New York.

Kiffer told the AP he had dealt with this particular document before, when in 1988 it sold for $ 165,000, noting that “it’s just as exciting, if not a little more exciting, the second times”.

“It would have belonged to either a member of the Continental Congress or one of the delegates to the Continental Convention,” Kiffer said. “They were the only people who had access to that first impression. Your eye is immediately drawn to that first line: “We the people of the United States. “

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