8 publishers · first seen Wed, 28 Oct 2026 17:04 UTC · updated Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:33 UTC
The original hand-drawn map of the Mason-Dixon Line, created by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon between 1767 and 1768, is being auctioned Thursday by Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina. The 76-inch-long and six-inch-tall document, mounted on Japanese rice paper, is expected to sell for between $800,000 and $1.2 million. It was originally drawn to settle a colonial border dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania and later became a symbolic boundary between free and slave states, notably referenced in the 1820 Missouri Compromise.
The map was gifted to Benjamin Chew, lawyer for William Penn's descendants, and remained in the Chew family until 1982, when Malcolm S. Forbes bought it for $360,000. It was sold again in 2002 for $556,000 to a private collector. The Library of Congress, which bid in 1982 but lost, has stated it cannot purchase the map this time due to budget constraints. Brunk Auctions said the new owner could be a private collector, institution, or foundation.
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