Rare copy of the United States Constitution, lost for centuries, found in eastern Carolina

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Historical document appraiser and collector Seth Kaller spreads out a wide sheet of paper on his desk. It’s in good enough condition that he can handle it carefully with clean, bare hands. There are only a few creases and minor discoloration, even though it’s just a few weeks shy of 237 years old and has spent an unknown amount of time in a filing cabinet in North Carolina.

At the top of the first page are familiar words, but written in a regular font, not in the massive Gothic script we are used to: “WE, the People…”

The public will have the opportunity to bid on this copy of the United States Constitution — the only one of its kind believed to be in private hands — at an auction hosted by Brunk Auctions on September 28 in Asheville, North Carolina.

The minimum bid for the auction of $1 million has already been placed. There is no minimum price that must be met.

This copy was printed after the Constitutional Convention of 1787 completed its proposed framework for American government and sent it to Congress, the first ineffective American government operating under the Articles of Confederation, requesting that it be sent to the states for ratification by the people.

It is one of about 100 copies printed by the Secretary of that Congress, Charles Thomson. Only eight copies are known to exist, the other seven being in the public domain.

Thomson probably signed two copies for each of the original 13 states, essentially certifying them. They were sent to special ratifying conventions where the representatives, all white and male, argued for months before accepting the structure of the United States government that endures to this day.

“This is the connection point between the government and the people. The preamble — ‘we the people’ — is where the government asks the people to give them power,” auctioneer Andrew Brunk said.

It is not known what happened to the auctioned document between Thomson’s signing and 2022.

Two years ago, in Edenton, in eastern North Carolina, property was cleared that once belonged to Samuel Johnston. He was governor of North Carolina from 1787 to 1789 and oversaw the state convention in his final year in office that ratified the Constitution.

The copy was found in a squat, two-drawer metal filing cabinet with a can of wood stain on top, in a room that had long been neglected, full of old chairs and a dusty bookcase, before the old Johnston house was preserved. The document was a wide sheet of paper that could be folded once like a book.

“I get calls every week from people who think they have a Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address. Usually it’s just a replica, but every once in a while I find something important,” said Kaller, who appraises, buys and sells historical documents.

“This is a completely different level of importance,” he added.

Next to the Constitution, on a wide sheet of paper printed front and back, is a letter from George Washington asking for ratification. He acknowledged that compromise would be necessary and that rights enjoyed by the states would have to be surrendered for the long-term health of the nation.

“In order to secure to each all the rights of independent sovereignty, and at the same time to provide for the interests and safety of all, the individuals composing a society must give up some liberty to retain the rest,” wrote the man who would become the first president of the United States.

Brunk isn’t sure how much the document might fetch because there are so few things to compare it to. The last time a copy of the Constitution like this sold for $400 was in 1891. In 2021, Sotheby’s of New York sold one of just 14 remaining copies of the Constitution printed for the Continental Congress and delegates to the Constitutional Convention for $43.2 million, a record for a book or document.

But this document was to be sent to the Founding Fathers as delegates to the Constitutional Convention. A signed copy, sold later that month, was to be sent to leaders in every state so that people across the country could review it and decide whether they wanted to be governed this way, connecting the framers of the Constitution with the people in the states who would give it authority and legitimacy.

The auction announcement did not identify the seller, only stating that the item was part of a privately owned collection.

Other items up for auction in Asheville include the first draft of the Articles of Confederation from 1776 and the Journal of the 1788 North Carolina Hillsborough Convention, where representatives spent two weeks debating whether ratifying the Constitution would give too much power to the people rather than the states.