This 1297 copy of the Magna Carta is one of the very few examples ever held in the United States — a physical link to the 13th-century document that first limited the power of an English king and helped shape the entire idea of constitutional law.
Businessman Ross Perot had bought it for $1.5 million back in 1984; when billionaire David Rubenstein purchased it in December 2007 for $21.3 million, he placed it on permanent public loan at the National Archives — turning a private sale into something the public could still go see for free.
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