Rare US Constitution copy to be up for auction in November, announces Sotheby

A rare copy of the United States Constitution from the official first printing produced for the delegates to the Constitutional Convention would be placed for auction later this year. According to Sotheby, one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and other collectables, the special document would be placed for auction in November this year. 

According to Sotheby, the document is among 11 surviving copies of the Constitution from the official first printing produced for the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and for the Continental Congress. The largest brokers of fine and decorative art informed that the copy that would be placed for the auction is the only copy that remains in private hands. Also, the most dynamic marketplace for art and luxury said that the antique document has an estimate of $15 million $20 million.

While speaking to the Associated Press (AP), Selby Kiffer, a senior international specialist in Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts Department, said the copy aimed for auction was the final text. "The debate on what the Constitution would say was over with this document. The debate about whether the Constitution was going to be adopted was just beginning." "This was the Constitution, but it didn’t take effect until it had been debated and ratified. So this was the first step in the process of us living now under this 234-year-old document,” he said of the document created during the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia.

The antique document is from the collection of Dorothy Tapper 

Further, Kiffer said that the copy of the Constitution is on public view until September 19 and then scheduled to transport to Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas, before returning to New York this fall. "While it’s a lot of years later and I’ve handled a lot of great things, and I’m more experienced, I have to say it’s just as exciting, if not a little bit more exciting, the second time around,” said the senior international specialist in Sotheby's Books. It is worth mentioning that the US Constitution copy is from the collection of Dorothy Tapper and proceeds from the sale of the collection. The sale of the antique copy would benefit the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, which is committed to facilitating the understanding of American democracy and how the acts of all citizens can make a difference.

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP