Magna Carta bought for less than $30 believed to be original copy and worth millions

ITV News

15-05-2025

An original issue of the Magna Carta, which auctioneers mistakenly catalogued as a copy in the 1940s and sold for a 'fairly derisory price', has been identified.
Researchers have concluded that the document is far more valuable than first thought and is in fact a rare version from 1300 issued by King Edward I.
Harvard Law School Library in America bought the document from a London book dealers Sweet & Maxwell in 1946 for $27.50 before knowing its true worth.
The copy is now estimated to be worth millions of dollars.
By comparison, a Magna Carta dated from 1297, that was sold at auction in 2007, fetched more than $21 million dollars at Sotheby's in New York.
The original Magna Carter, established in 1215, recognising the rights of common people and the principal that the King is subject to law, has formed the basis of many global constitutions.
David Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King's College London was searching the Harvard Law School Library website in December 2023 when he found the digitised document.
He said: 'My reaction was one of amazement and, in a way, awe that I should have managed to find a previously unknown Magna Carta.
'First, I'd found one of the most rare documents and most significant documents in world constitutional history.
'But secondly, of course, it was astonishment that Harvard had been sitting on it for all these years without realising what it was.'
Carpenter teamed up with Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at Britain's University of East Anglia, to confirm the authenticity of Harvard's document.
Comparing it to the other six copies from 1300, it was confirmed to be an original becoming one of only 25 known surviving Magna Carta, according to Prof Vincent.
'The comparison I would draw is the rarest painter known to everybody is Vermeer,' he said.
'There are I think, it's disputed, there are over 30 Vermeer paintings in existence and yet he is seen as the rarest painter in history.
'There are only now 25 of these Magna Carta originals.
'It is an extraordinary thing for anyone to possess.'
Amanda Watson, of Harvard Law School, congratulated the two professors on the 'fantastic discovery' and said: 'This work exemplifies what happens when magnificent collections, like Harvard Law Library's, are opened to brilliant scholars.'