A ‘DAO’ Has Raised Over USD 2.7M to Acquire a Rare Print of US Constitution
A new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has been organized to raise funds in an effort to bid on a first-edition printed copy of the US Constitution which will be up for auction at major auction house Sotheby’s on November 18.
ConstitutionDAO aims to pool money using an Ethereum (ETH) smart contract and win the bid for the rare copy. “We intend to put The Constitution in the hands of The People,” the DAO’s website says.
At the time of writing, the DAO has already raised more than USD 2.7m or ETH 574, with new funds coming in every second or so. However, considering that the copy is valued at USD 15m-20m, there is still a long way to go.
The copy is one of only 13 surviving first-edition copies that is poised to go for auction. The print is sometimes referred to as the Goldman Constitution because it has been in the hands of the Goldman family, the 23rd richest family in the US with a net worth of over USD 13bn, according to Forbes.
S. Howard Goldman, a passionate collector of Americana, purchased the Constitution copy for USD 165,000 back in 1988. Dorothy Tapper Goldman, wife to Howard, now aims to put it up for auction.
“Full proceeds from the sale of the collection will benefit The Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, which is dedicated to furthering the understanding of our democracy and how the acts of all citizens can make a difference,” Sotheby’s said.
ConstitutionDAO is not technically a DAO since it has no governance token to enable participants to control the future direction of the project. As of now, the group uses a dedicated Discord server, which has already attracted over 7,600 members, to coordinate the moves and answer questions.
“In the ethos and spirit of Web3, we intend to purchase The Constitution and find a home for it among the world’s finest artifacts to be preserved and enjoyed by all. We the people plan to preserve the document for the people. The ownership, of course, will reside within the DAO. We’ll fractionalize, NFT-ify [non-fungible token-ify], and mem-ify in the way that we do,” noted Graham Novak, one of the project’s engineers.
If the project succeeds to buy the historic piece, it will be another sought-after item owned by the crypto community. In mid-October, it was revealed that a DAO has acquired the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” record.
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– Sotheby’s Bored Ape NFT Auction Attracts Nearly USD 20M In Bids
– NFT in the Mainstream: Sotheby’s Follows Christie’s with a New Plan
