#Ken Griffin Buys Rare First Printing of US Constitution Sells for $43 Million

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Ken Griffin Buys Rare First Printing of US Constitution Sells for $43 Million

Citadel Founder Ken Griffin bought a first printing of the U.S. Constitution which sold for a record-setting $43.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction, the auction house announced Friday.

The auction Thursday 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.

Griffin had been a noted crypto skeptic in the past, but he’s recently come around on Ethereum. At the DealBook conference this month, Griffin said Bitcoin would be replaced “conceptually” by Ethereum’s blockchain — the same blockchain used by ConstitutionDAO.

Griffin said he will loan the document to Billionaire Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The artifact carried a presale estimate of $15 million to $20 million and belonged to collector Dorothy Goldman. Her late husband, S. Howard Goldman, had purchased it for $165,000 in 1988.

The piece is one of 13 surviving copies of the Official Edition of the Constitution printed in 1787 for the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and for the Continental Congress.

As auctioneer Quig Bruning took the stand, a crowd gathered to witness the event and chit-chat filled the room. The first bid came in seconds, at $30 million.

The initial bid was quickly challenged, and began building in $1 million increments. The bid almost closed at $38 million, then an additional million was offered at the last second. “Quite the drama,” joked Bruning.

Within 10 minutes, the back-and-forth had ended with a record-breaking $41 million hammer price, $20 million over the estimated value.

Sotheby’s said the item is the most valuable historical document ever sold at auction.

The artifact’s sale “was a monumental and historic occasion,” said Selby Kiffer, senior international specialist for books and manuscripts at the auction house. “Tonight’s result reflects how relevant it remains 234 years later — not only in America but for global democracy.”

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