Researcher accidentally discovers rare copy of Magna Carta in archival scrapbook
The Magna Carta Project announced Sunday that a rare copy of the Magna Carta was accidentally uncovered in the archives of the Kent county council in the British town of Sandwich.
A Kent archivist was going through a Victorian scrapbook looking for another document when he found a 1300 edition of the Magna Carta. There are only 24 known editions of the Magna Carta in the world, and the edition could be worth $15.2 million.
Professor Nicholas Vincent of the University of East Anglia confirmed the find and its value. Vincent told The Guardian that "it is very likely that there are one or two out there somewhere that no one has spotted yet." Sandwich won't sell the Magna Carta, The Guardian reports, but will keep it for its "potential as a tourist attraction."
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The original Magna Carta was drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1215.
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