Billionaire collector Ken Griffin has quietly acquired a second rare first printing of the US Constitution, known as the Van Sinderen copy, through a private deal after it was pulled from a planned Sotheby’s auction in 2022. Griffin, who previously paid $43.2 million at Sotheby’s in 2021 for another copy, now holds the only two copies of the 1787 document still in private hands. The newly acquired document will go on public display starting May 27 at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, headlining an exhibition titled “The Promise of Liberty” that includes other foundational texts.
This acquisition matters because it underscores the intersection of extreme private wealth and public cultural heritage, with Griffin framing the purchase as a gesture to widen public access ahead of the United States’s 250th anniversary. The rarity of the document—only 14 of the original 500 printings survive, most held by institutions—highlights the concentration of historically significant artifacts among a tiny group of ultra-high-net-worth collectors. The exhibition and related programming also reflect how private collections increasingly shape public commemorations and museum offerings.