There’s a certain thrill to thrift store shopping — maybe you’ll find some real Westmoreland milk glass, or a Thierry Mugler blazer in exactly your size. And you might find an absolute killer of a deal. But know it will never be as great as the find that Harvard Law made.
Back in 1946, the Harvard Law library shelled out $27.50 for a “somewhat rubbed and damp-stained” copy of the Magna Carta. But it turns out it’s actually an original from King Edward I’s 1300 re-issue of the document — one of just seven known to exist. King’s College London medieval history professor David Carpenter was the first to suspect that Harvard Law had the real deal — something he notes is a “fantastic discovery.” Reuters details how he confirmed his suspicions:
Carpenter was studying unofficial Magna Carta copies when he saw a digitized version of Harvard’s document and suspected it could be an original. He teamed up with medieval history professor Nicholas Vincent from the University of East Anglia to dig into the origins of the document, comparing it to the six other known Magna Cartas from 1300, each of which was written by hand.
The text of Harvard’s document matched up perfectly with the 1300 originals, as did its dimensions, the researchers said. The handwriting also lined up, with a large capital “E” at the start of “Edwardus” and elongated letters in the text’s first line.
It’s an ironic twist that an historic relic that’s the foundation of American liberties was found at Harvard, which thanks to the Trump administration, is a focal point of the battle over said liberties — something Vincent noted, “Given where it is, given present problems over liberties, over the sense of constitutional tradition in America, you couldn’t invent a provenance that was more wonderful than this.”
Now onto the hard dollars and cents. How much is this document actually worth? Well, back in 2007, an original Magna Carta from 1297 sold for $21.3 million. Now, that can’t replace the $2.2 billion in federal funding Trump swiped from the school, but it is a nice start.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
The post Harvard Law Got The Steal Of The Century appeared first on Above the Law.
There’s a certain thrill to thrift store shopping — maybe you’ll find some real Westmoreland milk glass, or a Thierry Mugler blazer in exactly your size. And you might find an absolute killer of a deal. But know it will never be as great as the find that Harvard Law made.
Back in 1946, the Harvard Law library shelled out $27.50 for a “somewhat rubbed and damp-stained” copy of the Magna Carta. But it turns out it’s actually an original from King Edward I’s 1300 re-issue of the document — one of just seven known to exist. King’s College London medieval history professor David Carpenter was the first to suspect that Harvard Law had the real deal — something he notes is a “fantastic discovery.” Reuters details how he confirmed his suspicions:
Carpenter was studying unofficial Magna Carta copies when he saw a digitized version of Harvard’s document and suspected it could be an original. He teamed up with medieval history professor Nicholas Vincent from the University of East Anglia to dig into the origins of the document, comparing it to the six other known Magna Cartas from 1300, each of which was written by hand.
The text of Harvard’s document matched up perfectly with the 1300 originals, as did its dimensions, the researchers said. The handwriting also lined up, with a large capital “E” at the start of “Edwardus” and elongated letters in the text’s first line.
It’s an ironic twist that an historic relic that’s the foundation of American liberties was found at Harvard, which thanks to the Trump administration, is a focal point of the battle over said liberties — something Vincent noted, “Given where it is, given present problems over liberties, over the sense of constitutional tradition in America, you couldn’t invent a provenance that was more wonderful than this.”
Now onto the hard dollars and cents. How much is this document actually worth? Well, back in 2007, an original Magna Carta from 1297 sold for $21.3 million. Now, that can’t replace the $2.2 billion in federal funding Trump swiped from the school, but it is a nice start.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
The post Harvard Law Got The Steal Of The Century appeared first on Above the Law.
