Magna Carta Up for Sale

A 1297 copy of the Magna Carta owned by Ross Perot will go on the auction block in December, Sotheby's announced today. The document, one of 17 left in existence, is expected to sell for 20 million to $30 million, the Times reports. It had been on display at the National Archives in Washington since 1987.

A Perot Foundation employee said the sale would raise funds for other charitable causes. Perot's copy is the only one in the world that is privately owned, and the only one in the US. He described himself as "amazed" that it was available when he bought it in 1984 for $1.5 million. (More Sotheby's stories.)