Too bad those in possession of North Carolina’s original copy of the Bill Of Rights, stolen from the State Capitol By Union soldiers during the Civil War, weren’t so kind and honest. There had been periodic offers to sell it back to the state for over a hundred years but the state steadfastly refused to pay for what was rightfully theirs. Asking price crept into the tens of millions by the time a sting operation was successfully mounted in Philadelphia, in 2004 if I’m not mistaken, and NC finally regained possession of it.
Interesting. Do you know if that account has ever been chronicled? That is worth a thread of its own.