This article was originally written by Dean Murray for SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets.
Two era-defining documents that ended slavery and reshaped United States history are going under the hammer.
The copies of the 13th Amendment (estimated at $8 million to $12 million) and the Emancipation Proclamation (estimated at $3 million to $5 million) are both signed by President Abraham Lincoln — and the landmark documents, rarely seen together, will headline Sotheby’s Fine Books and Manuscripts auction in New York on June 26.
They offer collectors a rare glimpse into the enduring legacy of Lincoln’s vision for the legal abolition of slavery. While the Emancipation Proclamation introduced partial emancipation, the 13th Amendment was the first instance in which abolition was enshrined in U.S. law. The latter’s ratification in 1865 marked the first change to the Constitution in 60 years.
According to Sotheby’s, the documents are considered the most valuable copies of their kind ever to reach auction. Their appearance together at the event commemorates a pivotal moment in the nation’s history, as well as Lincoln’s commitment to ending slavery — an act he considered his greatest achievement as president.
The 13th Amendment copy on offer is among only 15 recorded manuscript copies signed by Lincoln, and one of just nine with his signature alongside those of the senators and congressmen who passed it for ratification by the states. Of these, only four remain in private hands, with this example bearing the most signatures of supporting legislators — an extraordinary 96%.
The Emancipation Proclamation is one of just 27 surviving limited-edition copies from an original run of 48 produced to benefit the United States Sanitary Commission, a cause close to Lincoln’s heart. These documents were sold at the Great Central Fair in Philadelphia in 1864, raising funds for vital medical care and support for Union soldiers during the Civil War.
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, and the 13th Amendment on Feb. 1, 1865, after Congress passed the joint resolution proposing the amendment on Jan. 31, 1865.
This isn’t the first time Sotheby’s has auctioned off key documents in U.S. history. Last June, early printings of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights all sold, signifying to the auction house that “interest in the founding documents of the United States is at an all-time high.”
Selby Kiffer, a senior vice president at Sotheby’s, noted that the auction house has seen the value of these types of documents skyrocket in recent years. “It’s not much different than how you could’ve bought a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting for a comparatively low sum in 1988 versus what it would sell for now,” he said in a news release. “We’ve seen a separation in a lot of categories of collecting: that the pinnacle of the best of the best has increased in value at a more rapid rate than more routine items.”
Kiffer knows this better than most — in 2021, he sold a first-edition copy of the Constitution for $43.2 million at auction, marking a 26,000% appreciation since he sold it for $165,000 in 1988.
Interested in perusing more of the items being sold at the end of the month? The two documents will be on public view at Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries from June 20-25, ahead of the highly anticipated auction, and you can scroll through the rest of the lot on Sotheby’s website.
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