George Washington's personal copy of Constitution sells for $9.8 million

[riverwalker]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-billofrights-auction-idUSBRE85L1AQ20120622
NEW YORK (Reuters) - George Washington's personal copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights sold for $9.8 million at auction on Friday, setting a record for any American book or historic document.

Bidders at Christie's New York salesroom and others on the telephone competed for the first U.S. president's signed, gold-embossed volume dating to 1789, which had a pre-sale estimate of up to $3 million.

The non-profit Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, which maintains the historic Mount Vernon estate in Virginia that was Washington's home and is now open to the public, was the successful bidder.

[NewJeffCT]

1. and here is Trump's copy of the Constitution

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. If I could guess just one person who's going to back this, I would say

David Rubenstein. I would not be surprised in the least.

[exboyfil]

3. I guess it is good to have it back

but couldn't the organization that maintains the estate have found a better use for $9.8M. I am spit balling but maybe providing scholarships for African Americans to study Agricultural Engineering for example?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. I'm going to guess that David Rubenstein offered to back them.

It's just a guess. He does things like that.

[exboyfil]

5. That makes sense then

I was thinking the funding came from things like admissions and general donations. A directed donation to make such a document on public display is ok. Better than sitting in someone's library to be shown off at cocktail parties of the rich and famous.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. David Rubenstein kicked in half the cost of repairing the Washington Monument, following

the August 2011 earthquake. That copy of Magna Carta in the National Archives? It's his. He just leaves it there so that people can see it.

If I ever run into him, I'd like to shake his hand.