Magna Carta Knocked Down at $19 Million UPDATED

David Redden takes the bid.
The one-lot auction at Sotheby’s this evening has just concluded. Ross Perot’s copy of the Magna Carta fetched a hammer price of $19 million, below the presale estimate of $20-30 million ($21.32 million with buyer’s premium).
No word yet on the buyer, but If any American institution was bidding, this below-estimate result should have helped to make this iconic manifesto of democracy “affordable.”
I’ll update here, if more information becomes available.
UPDATE: A happy ending to this drama—the document stays at the National Archives in Washington, where it will be on loan from this evening’s purchaser (and sole bidder, according to Bloomberg), David Rubenstein, managing director of the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm.
Bloomberg’s Lindsay Pollock has the story.