ONE of only 17 remaining copies of the Magna Carta, the iconic 800-year-old English royal manuscript setting out basic human rights, sold at auction at Sotheby's yesterday for $US21.3 million, or $8528 a word.
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 million-$30 million.
It was the only copy in private hands.
The royal charter -- this version dated 1297 and bearing the wax seal of King Edward I -- enshrined the rights of men into English law and is considered the precursor of such landmark historical documents as the US Declaration of Independence.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, said it was quite simply "the most important document in the world". (cough*lies*cough - Ryan)
It was bought by David Rubenstein, founder of the Carlyle Group private equity fund.
The document established the principle of habeas corpus, which protects people against unlawful imprisonment by ensuring such rights as trial by jury and freedom from unlawful arrest.
The document established the principle of habeas corpus, which protects people against unlawful imprisonment by ensuring such rights as trial by jury and freedom from unlawful arrest.
Four of the surviving 17 copies date from the reign of King John, eight from that of Henry III, and five from that of Edward I.
The only other original outside Britain was a gift by the country to the people of Australia, and is on display at Parliament House, Canberra.
Mr Rubenstein, a former policy adviser to US president Jimmy Carter, said he would put the document back on public view at the National Archives in Washington.
"I thought it was very important that the Magna Carta stay in the United States, and I was concerned the only copy in the United States might escape the United States as a result of this auction," he said.
The document, written in medieval Latin, was sold by Texas software billionaire and two-time independent presidential candidate Ross Perot.
Mr Perot bought it for $1.5 million in 1984 from relatives of James Thomas Brudenell, the seventh Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. The family had owned the document for more than 500 years.
From: News.com.au
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