(Washington, D.C.) - A first printing copy of the United States Constitution sold for $43.2 million Thursday night at a Sotheby’s auction, a record for a historic document at auction.
The auction garnered attention after a group of crypto investors under the name of "ConstitutionDAO" said they raised more than $40 million to purchase the document. In a tweet Thursday, the group said they lost their bid.
Sotheby’s didn’t disclose the identity of the winner of the auction, but did acknowledge that they were an individual very interested in this particular copy of the constitution and 'what it might contain beyond just the text itself.' They said the individual was also very interested in 'the significance of the document to the freemason movement' and reportedly immediately turned the document over after the auction and started examining it closely using colored glasses.