Historical document appraiser and collector Seth Kaller spreads a broad sheet of paper across a desk. It's in good enough condition that he can handle it, carefully, with clean, bare hands. There are just a few creases and tiny discolorations, even though it's just a few weeks shy of 237 years old and has spent who knows how long inside a filing cabinet in North Carolina.
At the top of the first page are familiar words but in regular type instead of the sweeping Gothic script we're used to seeing: "WE, the People ..."
And the people will get a chance to bid for this copy of the U.S. Constitution - the only of its type thought to be in private hands - at a sale by Brunk Auctions on Sept. 28 in Asheville, North Carolina.
The minimum bid for the auction is $1 million. There is no minimum price that must be reached.
This copy was printed after the Constitutional Convention approved the proposed framework of the nation's government in 1787 and it was ratified by the Congress of the ineffective first American government under the Articles of Confederation.
