(ANSA) – NEW YORK, November 19 – A private collector has won a very rare first copy of the US Constitution from Sotheby’s for a record sum and a case has broken out: the anonymous client who got his hands on the document, one of 13 hits on We the People who beat out ConstitutionDAO, a large group of cryptocurrency investors who raised $46 million to seize it and return it “into the hands of the people.” In the end, after eight minutes of upward bidding, the amount paid came to $43.2 million including auction fees, twice the starting estimate. When asked why ConstitutionDAO is standing at 40 million, the speaker explained that the group had calculated its cap based on additional costs such as insurance, warehousing and transportation. Thus the six-page constitution dating back to 1787 became the most expensive document ever delivered at auction, more than the Leonardo Lister Act that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates paid $30.8 million over 27 years ago. Founder David Rubinstein paid $21.3 million in 2007. The changed constitution at Sotheby’s is one of two constitutions still in private ownership: it was printed for delegates to the Constituent Assembly and the Continental Congress more than 230 years ago.
There are only 27 first editions of the Declaration of Independence left, but only 13 original copies of the constitution are still in circulation. (Dealing).
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