History
Historic Mason-Dixon Line Map That Helped Divide America Into North and South Heads to Auction
A historic American map that helped define the divide between the North and South could soon sell for up to $1.2 million.
The original hand-drawn survey of the Mason-Dixon Line will go up for auction on Thursday, October 29, through Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina, according to an Associated Press report published Wednesday, October 28. The auction house estimates the map could fetch between $800,000 and $1.2 million.
Surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon originally created the boundary in the 1760s to settle a land dispute between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Decades later, the line became associated with the division between Northern states where slavery was prohibited and Southern states where it remained legal. It was also referenced in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which established boundaries governing the expansion of slavery into certain U.S. territories.
“The Mason-Dixon Line that most Americans know is this dividing line between the northern free states and the southern slaveholding states,” Lauren Brunk, vice president of Brunk Auctions, said, per the AP. “But the line was not drawn for that reason.”
The boundary is also associated with the term “Dixie,” a nickname for the American South. One theory traces the word to Dixon’s name, although its actual origin remains disputed, per the report.
The map measures 76 inches long and 6.5 inches tall, and has been remounted on Japanese rice paper for preservation.
Per the report, it originally belonged to the family of attorney Benjamin Chew, who represented descendants of Pennsylvania founder William Penn. The family kept it until 1982, when publisher Malcolm S. Forbes purchased it for $360,000, outbidding the Library of Congress.
The map changed owners again in 2002, and a separate section depicting the Delaware-Maryland border is held by Princeton University, the outlet reported.
Brunk contacted the Library of Congress about the upcoming sale.
“And they said, at this point, budgets being what they are, they were just not in a position to buy it,” she said, per the AP.
