Mason-Dixon Survey: $950,000 Sale Ends Private Era
The hand-drawn 1768 map that defined the North-South divide sold at Brunk Auctions to an anonymous bidder, surpassing previous records for the document.
By Kendra Wilson ·
A hand-drawn map of the Mason-Dixon Line sold for $950,000 on Thursday, marking the highest price ever recorded for the survey. The document, completed in 1768, served as the geographic boundary between free and slave states in the early United States. Forty-five bidders competed for less than three minutes in a hybrid auction held in Asheville, North Carolina.
The bidding process began at $400,000. While the final price fell short of the $1.2 million high estimate, Lauren Brunk, vice president at Brunk Auctions, described the result as a very high price for a map. The winning bidder requested anonymity, keeping the new owner's identity private for the time being.
The survey was originally commissioned to resolve a border dispute between the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Its historical weight grew when the line was used in the 1820 Missouri Compromise to limit the expansion of slavery. That political division eventually contributed to the Civil War four decades later.
The map has changed hands three times since the mid-20th century. Publisher Malcolm Forbes purchased the document in 1982 for $360,000, outbidding the Library of Congress. It was resold in 2002 for $556,000. Brunk confirmed that the Library of Congress did not participate in Thursday's bidding.
Brunk expressed gratitude for the opportunity to steward the artifact through the sale. A separate vertical section of the same map, depicting the Delaware-Maryland border, remains housed at Princeton University. The main document now leaves the auction house after several months of public display.
Source: The Reporter
