The billionaire financier Ken Griffin made news in 2021 when he paid $43.2 million for a rare first printing of the Constitution, outbidding a group of nearly 17,000 cryptocurrency fans to set a record for the highest auction price ever for a book, manuscript or historic document.
On Monday, Griffin revealed that he has acquired another copy, making him the owner of the only two known surviving copies to remain in private hands.
Griffin’s previously acquired copy is already on public view, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The newly purchased one will be displayed starting May 27 at the South Street Seaport Museum in Lower Manhattan, in honor of the 250th anniversary of American independence.
“The Constitution is far more than a founding document — it is one of humanity’s greatest achievements and a testament to the promise of America,” said Griffin said in a statement. “As we approach our nation’s 250th anniversary, broadening access to it invites the next generation to discover its meaning, cherish its ideals, and carry forward the principles that continue to shape and strengthen our country.”
The first official copies of the Constitution were printed in Philadelphia in September 1787, for distribution to the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Today, only 14 are known to survive, with 12 of them in institutions. Among the most sought after American documents, they have come up for public sale only a handful of times in the past two centuries.
The copy newly acquired by Griffin, known as the Van Sinderen copy, after a longtime owner, was listed for auction at Sotheby’s in December 2022.
It carried an estimate of $20 million to $30 million. But Sotheby’s canceled the sale a few hours before the scheduled auction, citing what it described as strong interest from institutional buyers, who needed more time to arrange financing.
What happened next is unclear. Griffin Catalyst, Griffin’s philanthropy, said through a representative that it had acquired the document in a private sale, but declined to provide further details.
The document will be a part of “The Promise of Liberty,” an exhibition organized by the museum in cooperation with Sail4th 250, a nonprofit group that is organizing a flotilla of nearly 100 tall ships and naval vessels from three dozen countries that will arrive in New York City for July 4.
The exhibition, curated by Seth Kaller, a dealer in rare Americana, will also include three dozen other important documents tracing the development of American freedom. They include an early printing of the Bill of Rights, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and a mimeograph typescript draft of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.”
The show, which is expected to run until late September, is part of a cavalcade of document displays taking place for the 250th, as institutions in New York City and across the country are bringing out precious items from the Founding era.
The New York Public Library will display several early copies of the Declaration, including a handwritten version made by Thomas Jefferson, which includes a lengthy condemnation of slavery that was cut from the final version.
Starting on May 8, the Gray Gallery at New York University will display a first printing of the Declaration by the Philadelphia printer John Dunlap, as the centerpiece of “The Declaration of Independence: Long Trail to Liberty,” a display of rare early American items from the collection of the philanthropist William R. Berkley.
And at least one notable early copy of the Declaration will be arriving by sea.
Sail4th 250’s procession of tall ships in New York on July 4 will be led by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, a 295-foot, three-masted vessel that also participated in a similar maritime parade at the 1976 Bicentennial. In addition to its crew, the Eagle will carry a rare early newspaper printing of the Declaration from The Boston Gazette from July 1776.
The mode of transport may be unusual, Kaller said, but it is historically fitting. “This is how declarations were delivered back then,” he said.
Jennifer Schuessler is a reporter for the Culture section of The Times who covers intellectual life and the world of ideas.
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