The sale of piece of 710 year old parchment has fetched over $21 million. That’s a lot of money isn’t it.
The magna carta is without a doubt one of the most important documents ever written. Even more important than the holy babble. For the first time (well, for the first clearly documented time) the king is made accountable. So much springs from this document. The whole history of the parchment is indeed a very interesting tale.
I’m all for maintaining really old things. Really old important things. You know, castles, my parents, stuffed dodos, first written babble. But, at some point, where there is no clear right to ownership, this type of old thing should really become the property of the people of the world.
As to paying that much for it, well, really. A cool $21 mil just sitting around. I’m glad that the document will continue to be on public display. Now the thing to do is to donate it to the museum. Really. If you’ve got that much to spend on the document, I don’t think money is a problem. Just give it to them so there will never again be any doubt about it being sold into private hands again, whisked away and hidden in some private living room.
And how is such a price arrived at. Well, auction really. But apart from that, who decides its worth that much to themselves? Of all the good that can be done with money, this guy is pissing it up against the wall on a document that was designed to make the lives of the king’s subjects better.
What a waste of money.