Mason-Dixon Line map sells for $950,000 at auction

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 29 Oct, 17:51 · Archive

The hand-drawn Mason-Dixon Line survey that divided free from slave states sold for $950,000 at auction in North Carolina.

A hand-drawn survey of the Mason-Dixon Line sold for $950,000 at Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina, after forty-five bidders competed in a three-minute auction held online and in person. The 1768 map, created by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, was originally commissioned to settle a border dispute between the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Bidding started at $400,000 for the historic document. Although it failed to reach the auction house's $1.2 million high estimate, vice president Lauren Brunk expressed satisfaction with the result, calling it 'a very high price for a map'. The buyer requested anonymity for the time being.

The survey became one of the most consequential maps in American history. It was used in the 1820 Missouri Compromise to establish limits on slavery in the United States and later became synonymous with the fundamental divisions that exploded into the Civil War. The map previously sold for $360,000 in 1982 when bought by publisher Malcolm Forbes, and again for $556,000 in 2002. The Library of Congress did not bid in Thursday's auction.

How it is being reported

• 'Dixie' map that divided the US into North and South fetches nearly $1 million at auctionAfter a brief bidding war, the manuscript map that helped divide the United States into North and South, free and slave states, sold for $950,000.Clickorlando · 29 Oct, 17:07
• 'Dixie' map that divided the US into North and South fetches nearly $1 million at auctionAfter a brief bidding war, the manuscript map that helped divide the United States into North and South, free and slave states, sold for $950,000.News4Jax · 29 Oct, 17:07

In this story: Charles Mason · Jeremiah Dixon · Malcolm Forbes · Brunk Auctions · Library of Congress · Asheville · North Carolina · Maryland

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