Magna Carta Sells for $21.3M in New York

[onehandle]

Source: AP/Washington Post

NEW YORK -- A 710-year-old copy of the declaration of human rights known as the Magna Carta _ the version that became part of English law _ was auctioned Tuesday for $21.3 million, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said.

The document, which had been expected to draw bids of $30 million or higher, was bought by David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, the spokeswoman said.

Sotheby's vice chairman David Redden called the old but durable parchment "the most important document in the world, the birth certificate of freedom."

The document was owned by the Perot Foundation, created by Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, since the early 1980s. It had been on exhibit at the auction house for the past 11 days.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/18/AR2007121801929.html

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Our rights have been sold. Sounds about right.

[Traveling_Home]

1. Crap - I really wanted that!!!! nt

[Mojorabbit]

2. and to the carlyle group of all things.

Ironic isn't it.

[Kurovski]

7. They need more toilet paper.

Lighting cigars with thousand dollar bills is so cliche.

[fascisthunter]

3. And the Rich and Powerful are Having Orgasms, I'm Sure

Nothing is sacred, and nothing of this country belongs to it's citizenry, but to private owners themselves. Welcome to a modern day serfdom, brought to you by stupid people.

[Captain Angry]

4. Carlyle. How awful.

That's what happens when you're in a business that makes major money, and pays little taxes on it. There's more money for bonuses to buy stuff like this.

I feel nauseous.

[Double T]

5. Wonder if David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group bought the Magna Carta ...........

so he could personally run it through his paper shredder.

[evlbstrd]

6. Once again, freedom is undervalued.

And available only to the wealthy.

[PassingFair]

8. Maybe it's a Christmas present for his King.

Matching Set?

[dweller]

9. the rich are very, very stupid...

since that document hasn't been worth about 2cents for the last 8 years.

dp

[davidinalameda]

10. it's going to the National Archives

[melm00se]

30. i thought

the Archives already had a copy. Or perhaps the one on display in the Archives is the one that was just sold?

[davidinalameda]

36. Ross Perot owned the one just sold

[hatrack]

11. Huh. It sure brought a lot less in Washington

:eyes:

[Warpy]

12. It should have been donated to the British Museum

the fact that it's owned by a fat cat war corporation speaks very ill of its survival.

It's a document that belongs to all free people, but especially to the free people of Britain.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. Exactly...

Imagine GB owning the Declaration of Independence... :-(

[Traveling_Home]

16. GB Could do that - there are 25 Official - 5 private owners

http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/declaration_of_independence.htm

Although Congress had adopted the Declaration submitted by the Committee of Five, the committee's task was not yet completed. Congress had also directed that the committee supervise the printing of the adopted document. The first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence were turned out from the shop of John Dunlap, official printer to the Congress. After the Declaration had been adopted, the committee took to Dunlap the manuscript document, possibly Jefferson's "fair copy" of his rough draft. On the morning of July 5, copies were dispatched by members of Congress to various assemblies, conventions, and committees of safety as well as to the commanders of Continental troops. Also on July 5, a copy of the printed version of the approved Declaration was inserted into the "rough journal" of the Continental Congress for July 4. The text was followed by the words "Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President. Attest. Charles Thomson, Secretary." It is not known how many copies John Dunlap printed on his busy night of July 4. There are 24 copies known to exist of what is commonly referred to as "the Dunlap broadside," 17 owned by American institutions, 2 by British institutions, and 5 by private owners. (See Appendix A.)


Appendix A
The 25 copies of the Dunlap broadside known to exist are dispersed among American and British institutions and private owners. The following are the current locations of the copies.

National Archives, Washington, DC
Library of Congress, Washington, DC (two copies)
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (two copies)
Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia, PA
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Scheide Library, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
New York Public Library, New York
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Chapin Library, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Yale University, New Haven, CT
American Independence Museum, Exeter, NH
Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, IL
City of Dallas, City Hall, Dallas, TX
Declaration of Independence Road Trip
Private collector
Public Record Office, United Kingdom (two copies)

[progressive_realist]

18. Why does Dallas have a copy?

Texas was never a British colony, and the Declaration of Independence has nothing to do with Texas history.

:wtf:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. Wasn't Texas its own country briefly?

Maybe it's planning to use the Declaration as an outline for their own seccession...

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. The British Library does have older copies than this

http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/magna.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta#Copies

This is apparently the only ancient copy in private hands, though it has been publicly exhibited recently.

[Warpy]

35. Whew!

I'd hate to think an original had been stolen from the British people and sold by rich men to each other.

[Lorien]

13. To the Carlyle Group, no less.

How ironic.

[Lint Head]

15. Perot started EDS which is the computer company that is used

to administrate Medicare claims by the majority of insurance carriers. :dem:

[kurth]

17. It's not the most important document in the world

The document only affected the rich and powerful at the time. Subsequent monarchs ignored it - just like Bush ignores the Constitution.

[Solar Power]

26. I agree completely ... with Kurth..

My professor of English History evidently was some kind of expert in the period that the Magna Carta was issued. Yes, more than one was issued. And after King John approved it, (as kurth said) he ignored it. As did the rich and famous that followed. While subsequent monarchs ignored it..as stated...they would issue it as a perfunctuary procedure when they were installed, or when on rare occasions that Parliament was called in.

After a while, that perfunctuary procedure became part of the institution of government. As Parliament gained power over hundreds of years, the rich and powerful were joined by the raising class of business. After time, these three joined together to force the kinds to actually follow the document..And that is the way it was.................
.and gradually the rich, powerful and the business classes, (raising middle class) gained a voice in Parliament,) and eventually on how the government was run... and that eventually turned into participatory democracy. I wish I could remember that guy's name..
...............that was over 40 years ago, and he was a great teacher..........

[HeeBGBz]

19. Time to erase a little history

The Magna Carta was rumored to be a real document. It didn't really say what you thought it did.

[Fovea]

20. I think that is a monstrosity

This document is a part of the human cultural heritage
Screw this!

[lanlady]

21. from Wikipedia

Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter", literally "Great Paper"), also called Magna Carta Libertatum ("Great Charter of Freedoms"), is an English charter originally issued in 1215. Magna Carta was the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. Magna Carta influenced the development of the common law and many constitutional documents, such as the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, and is considered one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy.

Magna Carta was originally written because of disagreements among Pope Innocent III, King John and the English barons about the rights of the King. Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and accept that his will could be bound by the law. It explicitly protected certain rights of the king's subjects, whether free or fettered — most notably the writ of habeas corpus, allowing appeal against unlawful imprisonment. Many clauses were renewed throughout the Middle Ages, and further during the Tudor and Stuart periods, and the 18th century. By the late 19th century, most clauses in their original form had been repealed from English law.

There are some popular misconceptions about Magna Carta, such as that it was the first document to limit the power of an English king by law (it was not the first, and was partly based on the Charter of Liberties); that it in practice limited the power of the king (it mostly did not in the Middle Ages); and that it is a single static document (it is a variety of documents referred to under a common name).

[TheWatcher]

22. This pretty much crystalizes what Freedom has become in this world.

[Rockholm]

24. Carlyle buys democracy. Nice.

Maybe they will destroy it and claim it never existed. The document, silly. Did you think I meant democracy itself?

[pipoman]

25. Art and antiquities of this magnatude are

historically among the best investments available. I doubt Carlyle gives a shit about the meaning of the document only that it sold for 2/3 the estimate. They will flip it in a few years for $40M.

[Blue_Tires]

27. freedom for sale? n/t

[jzodda]

28. disgusting

Such an important treasure will go in some rich guy's cabinet so he can show it off to his buddies. It should be in a museum where everybody can enjoy it.

[captain jack]

31. How many toilers for freedom could afford that?

This must be how far the average person, that is the achiever, is away from thier rights. Stories like these only validate the awful truth. You can't afford your rights! and likewise you'll have a harder time proving you had any rights when you don't possess any proof, such as this document. Workers and consumers ("the beast")have no business worrying about such nonsense.
"....this is our country". hahaha

[lumberjack_jeff]

32. Fuck. The world in micrososm.

"Carlyle group buys Magna Carta at bargain price."

The Onion couldn't have done better.

[bear425]

33. Just heard this on my local news and was shocked -

shocked, I tell you, to learn of the buyer...

k/r

[davhill]

34. The Constitution and Bill of Rights

Have already been sold to the highest bidders.

[Stuart G]

37. From the British Museum..

Want to know the facts about Magna Carta?
..What the British Museum says.............copied from their web site......



Magna Carta is often thought of as the corner-stone of liberty and the chief defence against arbitrary and unjust rule in England. In fact it contains few sweeping statements of principle, but is a series of concessions wrung from the unwilling King John by his rebellious barons in 1215. However, Magna Carta established for the first time a very significant constitutional principle: that the power of the king could be limited by a written grant.

King John's unsuccessful attempts to defend his dominions in Normandy and much of western France led to oppressive demands on his subjects. Taxes were extortionate; reprisals against defaulters were ruthless, and John's administration of justice was considered capricious. In January 1215 a group of barons demanded a charter of liberties as a safeguard against the King's arbitrary behaviour. The barons took up arms against John and captured London in May 1215.

By 10 June both parties met and held negotiations at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames. The concessions made by King John were outlined in a document known as the 'Articles of the Barons', to which the King's great seal was attached, and on 19 June the barons renewed their oaths of allegiance to the King. Meanwhile the royal chancery produced a formal royal grant, based on the agreements reached at Runnymede, which became known as Magna Carta (Latin for 'the Great Charter').

Four copies of the original Magna Carta grant survive. Two, including this one, are held at the British Library while the others can be seen in the cathedral archives at Lincoln and Salisbury.

All four copies of Magna Carta declare themselves to have been 'given by our hand in the meadow which is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines on the 15th day of June in the 17th year of our reign' (1215). Each differs slightly in size, shape and text. The few short words and passages written at the foot of the present document have been incorporated into the main texts of the Lincoln and Salisbury charters and may therefore represent last-minute revisions.

The original destination of this version of Magna Carta is unknown. It was given to Sir Robert Cotton by the barrister Humphrey Wyems on 1 January 1629, and according to one account had been found in a London tailor's shop. According to contemporary chronicles, copies were distributed to bishops, sheriffs and others throughout the land, but the exact number of copies sent out from the royal chancery in 1215 is not known

[Stuart G]

38. One sold at auction was a later version..not the one issued in 1215

The one that was sold at auction was not the first version, but a later version. It was periodically reissued from time to time.. the first ones are in the British Museum.....those are older than this one..

[BadGimp]

39. F%$kYouMoney

This is a classic example of someone using what many have referred to as "Fuck You Money" to buy something they don't really need for a sum that is beyond ridiculous to most.

I first heard the term while working as an aluminum siding sales rep in the 70s. A co-worker and I were burning time in a mall. He saw a nice watch in a upscale jewelery store. The clerk was about as uppity and snobbish as you can imagine. My co-worker asked to see the watch. The clerk instantly retorted "Sir this watch costs $10,000". My co-worker reared back and bellowed in a voice like one that would boom from the clouds: "Fuck You, I'll take it!" I said nothing. SALE!

Later in the car my co-worker, sporting his new watch shared with me me that he kept a stash of "Fuck You Money" precisely for occasions like this. I wish Master Card would make a commercial like that.

Recently I had an occasion to buy the domain FuckYouMoney.com for $49.00. Fortunately I had $49 in my FYM account, and I snagged the domain.

Score one for me.