Billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin has been revealed as the winner of last week’s auction at Sotheby’s for President Abraham Lincoln’s handwritten copy of the 13th Amendment, the auction house said in a statement Monday.
The document—one of only four copies still in private hands—was offered during the first part of Sotheby’s “Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana” sale last Thursday, with an estimate of $8 million to $12 million. After a spirited round of bidding, Griffin secured the winning bid of $12 million by phone. With buyer’s premium, the total came to $13.7 million, well above the $2.4 million record set for a different copy of the amendment in 2016.
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At the sale, Griffin also acquired a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln’s 1863 order declaring that all enslaved people in the Confederate states would be free. The version offered at Sotheby’s was signed in 1864. Ultimately, Griffin won it for $4.4 million, on a $3 million to $5 million estimate.
In a statement, Griffin said that he pursued the two documents because they “marked a profound step forward, abolishing the scourge of slavery and advancing the ideal that all people are created equal.”
“As America approaches its 250th anniversary, we all have a part to play to strengthen and renew the promise of our nation. Each generation must experience the sacred documents of our democracy—to learn from them and be inspired to carry our country forward,” he continued. “I care deeply about the future of our nation and hope to inspire all Americans to uphold the vision set forth in our Constitution and the 13th Amendment.”
Griffin, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Citadel, is a major arts philanthropist who has regularly appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list thanks to his expansive holdings of modernist and contemporary masterpieces by artists such as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Paul Cézanne, Jasper Johns, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, and many others.
He is also a major donor to leading museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York ($40 million), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago ($10 million), the Norton Museum of Art in Florida ($16 million), and the Shed in New York ($25 million). Griffin supports history and natural history museums as well, along with conservative causes: last year, he donated $100 million to conservative candidates in the US.
The 13th Amendment isn’t Griffin’s first major purchase of American historical documents. In 2021, he spent $43.2 million on a rare copy of the US Constitution—one of 14 printed for delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
In May, Griffin announced plans to lend that copy of the Constitution to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where it will be on public view through 2026. The loan was accompanied by a $15 million gift, and the institution will rename its central hall the Kenneth C. Griffin Great Hall.
“All of us at the National Constitution Center are honored to tell the story of America’s founding in such a meaningful way thanks to the generosity of Ken Griffin,” said Jeffrey Rosen, National Constitution Center president and CEO, in a statement in May. “Our new galleries on America’s founding principles, featuring rare original printings of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, will engage and inspire millions as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and look ahead to the 250th anniversary of the Constitution.”