The millionaire sum in dollars they paid at auction for a rare copy of the United States Constitution.

A group of cryptocurrency investors previously tried to get hold of the document but did not win the bid.

Sotheby’s reported a scarce original copy of the United States Constitution sold for $ 43 million on Thursday, a world record for a historical document at auction.

This auction firm noted that it is one of only 13 surviving copies of the United States Magna Carta, signed on September 17, 1787, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia by the country’s founding fathers, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin. and James Madison.

The identity of the winning bidder has not been disclosed. However, a Sotheby’s spokesperson confirmed that the sale, for $ 43.2 million, including commissions, represents a world record for a landmark document sold at auction.

The original copy sold Thursday was owned by American collector Dorothy Tapper Goldman and was one of only two in private hands.

A group of cryptocurrency investors raised $ 40 million to buy the document but could not win the bid.

The Constitution DAO group said on Twitter, “We did not get the constitution, but we made history anyway.”

The group added, “We have broken the record for the most funds raised for a physical item and the highest amount raised in 72 hours, which will be returned to all those who participated. Is.”

In September, Selby Kefer, an expert on Sotheby’s manuscripts and antiquities, explained that the copy was probably part of a 500-copy edition printed at the time of the signing.

At the end of September, it was valued at between $ 15 million and $ 20 million.

The final price more than doubled that valuation. The auction took just eight minutes, with candidates physically bidding in the New York room but others launching their bids over the phone from the rest of the world.

The famous text, with the renowned preamble “We, the People of the United States, (…) proclaim and institute this Constitution for the United States of America,” was approved on September 17, 1787.

Later it was ratified by the different federal states between December of 1787 in the case of Delaware until May of 1790 in Rhode Island. In September, Kiffer said he “found it very interesting” that the Constitution is still “as debated today as it was during its ratification” more than 230 years ago.