<i>In The News</i>: A Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and Elvis Museum For Sale
- by Michael Stillman
This early copy of the Declaration of Independence sold for $693,500 at a Skinner auction.
By Michael Stillman
Auction sales for two of the most important documents in the history of human liberty top this month's stories In The News. A date has now been set for what auctioneer Sotheby's describes as "the birth certificate of freedom," England's Magna Carta. The sale will be held at 7:00 p.m. on December 18, 2007, at Sotheby's in New York. We recommend you not be late as this is the only lot being offered in this sale.
Offered is one of a handful of manuscript copies of the "Great Charter" produced in the 13th century. This is a 1297 or official version of a document of rights first created in 1215. It is one of only two copies held outside of the U.K. (the other is in Australia). This copy was held for some five centuries by the Brudenell family until sold to Ross Perot's Perot Foundation for $1.5 million in 1983. That will undoubtedly prove to be a bargain as this sale is expected to smash all records for items in the books and manuscripts field. The price estimate is an astounding $20-$30 million.
The Magna Carta will be available for viewing at Sotheby's daily beginning on December 7. Sotheby's has prepared an extensive, 56-page report on the Magna Carta, which will be of note to anyone interested in this great document, even if you do not prove to be the winning bidder. It is available at http://www.sothebys.com/app/paddleReg/paddlereg.do?dispatch=eventDetails&event_id=28596 (Click the link under "Overview" to download a copy).
The other enormously important document to come up for auction was a very early broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence. This copy was printed in Boston less than two weeks after the original document was signed, between July 12 and 16, 1776. It was offered by Skinner in Boston on November 19. Against a modest estimate of $70,000-$90,000, it sold for $693,500. Though a fair number of these broadsides were printed along the eastern seaboard in the days after the signing, the heavy handling and fragility of the paper destroyed most. Fewer than 100 are believed to survive.
A disappointing art sale at Sotheby's led to a huge decline in the company's stock price, and may have signaled caution to high end book buyers as well. The sale was of modern and impressionist art, and it took in $270 million against an estimate range of $355 to $494 million. Almost half of the items sold either below the low estimate or failed to sell at all. A Van Gogh, estimated at $28-$35 million, painted two weeks before he died, failed to sell. The same was true of a Picasso estimated at $25-$35 million (we are expected to pay more for another Picasso than a 13th century Magna Carta? What is wrong with us?). Punishment in the marketplace was swift and brutal, as investors cut almost one-third off Sotheby's stock price the following day.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
