Magna Carta to go under hammer in New York

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

NEW YORK (AFP) — Arguably the most important document ever to be auctioned goes on sale Tuesday when the Magna Carta, an 800-year-old English royal manuscript, goes under the hammer at Sotheby's in New York.

The royal charter, dated 1297 and bearing the wax seal of King Edward I, enshrined the rights of man into English law and is considered the precursor of such landmark historical documents as the US Declaration of Independence.

Sotheby's Vice Chairman and Tuesday night's auctioneer David Redden described the vellum manuscript, which is expected to fetch 20 to 30 million dollars, as quite simply "the most important document in the world."

"It's the great-great-great-grandfather of some of the great documents -- at least in America -- of freedom, such as...