Just in case you haven’t been paying attention, Christmas is almost upon us.
I’m sure many of you faithful readers are wondering what to get your faithful scribe this year.
I don’t want to seem like some greedhead and give you a long list filled with luxury items like a solar-powered cat waxer.
What I’d like to find under my artificial tree is a simple piece of paper. Well, not exactly paper. It’s on parchment.
It’s a copy of the Magna Carta.
Somebody out there just thought to himself “What’s that? Some sort of darn magnet?”
The Magna Carta has been called the birth certificate of freedom. And a copy is going on the block Tuesday at Sotheby’s auction house.
Back in the year 1215, a group of English barons were rather upset with King John and his foreign wars.
They got King John to a place called Runnymede and handed him some parchment. Put your royal seal on this, they said and there won’t be any more trouble.
With that, the relationship between the monarchy and those it governed was forever changed.
The document was the Magna Carta, which literally means “Great Paper” in Latin.
Basically, it was a declaration of human rights that would provide some of the guiding principles for modern democracy.
Most notably it included the right of Habeas Corpus, which protects citizens against unlawful imprisonment.
After 800 years, only 17 copies survive. One of those, signed by King Edward I in 1297, is what is for sale.
Sotheby’s vice chairman David Redden calls it “the most important document in the world.”
He thinks it will bring $20-30 million. I can’t even calculate that much in sales tax.
Earlier versions of the royal edict were written and then ignored, Redden said, “the 1297 Magna Carta became the operative version, the one that was entered into English common law and became the law of the land.”
Today, its impact is felt by perhaps a third of the world’s people, he said. This includes all of North America, India, Pakistan, much of Africa, Australia and other areas that made up the British Commonwealth.
Only two copies of the Magna Carta exist outside Britain — one in Australia and the one Sotheby’s is auctioning.
For most of the past 20 years it has been displayed in a gold-plated container at the National Archives in Washington, a few feet from the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. A lot of people would like to see it go back there.
But I’d like to hang it on the wall for a while so I could show friends.
“OK, that’s a poster from a 1974 Bruce Springsteen concert at the Armadillo. That’s the Magna Carta. That’s a dinosaur drawing Tori Cantu did in kindergarten…”
“I’m sorry. What was that one?”
“The Springsteen poster?”
“No, the really old looking one.”
“Oh, that’s the Magna Carta, the birth certificate of freedom. Now, over here is a Rolling Stones poster…”
The auction will be open to the public, but being a single-lot sale, it might not take longer than five minutes. So, don’t be late.
For more info check out www.sothebys.com.
Rock for Toys
The folks at South Texas Metal Productions are putting on their 4th Annual Toys 4 Tots Metal Show Sunday at Smileys Ballroom 217 S. Rangerville Rd.
The rocking starts at 7 p.m. with In Asunder, Axe of Vengeance, Embracing Doom, Sovereign Wrath and Deviousend.
All ages are welcome. The cover charge: a new unwrapped toy.
Prove that there is a heart that beats beneath that black T-shirt and support a worthy cause.
For more info, visit www.stmp.us.
