Magna Carta sold for 21.3 million at New York auction

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

NEW YORK, (AFP) — One of only 17 existing copies of the Magna Carta, the iconic 800-year-old English royal manuscript setting out the rights of man, sold at auction at Sotheby's Tuesday for 21.3 million dollars.

Arguably the most important document ever to be auctioned, the vellum manuscript was picked up by a telephone bidder, selling for the lower range of its pre-sale estimate of 20 to 30 million dollars.

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seal of King Edward I, enshrined the rights of man into English law and is considered the precursor of such landmark historical documents as the US Declaration of Independence.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 the auctioneer of the sale, David Redden, described the vellum manuscript as quite simply "the most...