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Lot 1/5 · Historical Objects2021
#1 Most Expensive
The ItemU.S. Constitution — First Printing

A crypto crowdfund of 17,000 strangers tried to buy it together — a hedge-fund billionaire outbid them all for $43.2 million.

$43,200,000

The Item

This is one of just 13 surviving copies of the official first printing of the United States Constitution — the founding legal document of the country, in its original published form.

Why It Went Viral

The November 2021 Sotheby's auction became a genuine internet phenomenon when ConstitutionDAO, a crowdfunded crypto collective, raised over $40 million from more than 17,000 individual donors in a matter of days specifically to try to buy it.

They still lost — Citadel CEO Ken Griffin won the eight-minute bidding war at $43.2 million, the record price for any book, manuscript, or historical document ever sold.

U.S. Constitution — First PrintingVerified · Public record
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