Historic Mason-Dixon Line Map Heads to Auction With Estimates Up to $1.2M
A rare hand-drawn chart of the Mason-Dixon Line, which later defined the Mason-Dixon divide, goes to auction with estimates up to $1.2 million.
The map that helped define the geographic and moral fault lines of the United States is back on the market. According to the New York Post [1], a hand-drawn chart of the Mason-Dixon Line is scheduled to go under the hammer in a livestreamed auction, with estimates ranging from $800,000 to $1.2 million.
Lauren Brunk, vice president of Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina, described the document as "awe-inspiring" given its historical weight. The New York Post noted that Brunk emphasized how rarely items of such consequential importance become available for private ownership [1].
The survey was originally conducted by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to settle a border dispute between the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania. However, its legacy shifted dramatically when the 1820 Missouri Compromise used the line to demarcate the limits of slavery, effectively turning it into the symbolic boundary between free and slave states. The Independent reported [2] that this division became synonymous with the tensions that eventually erupted into the Civil War four decades later.
Physically, the artifact is a linen-backed strip of paper measuring 76 inches long and 6.5 inches tall, recently remounted on Japanese rice paper. The Independent detailed [2] that the map remained in the possession of the Chew family, descendants of Pennsylvania founder William Penn’s attorney, until 1982. That year, publisher Malcolm S. Forbes outbid the Library of Congress, paying $360,000, which was then a record for an American map.
The map changed hands again in 2002, though the current owner’s identity remains anonymous. Brunk reached out to the Library of Congress to see if they wished to acquire it, but the institution declined due to budget constraints, according to the New York Post [1]. Despite the library's inability to purchase it, Brunk indicated they would welcome the map if a private patriot bought it on their behalf.
While a popular theory suggests the term "Dixie" derives from Jeremiah Dixon, the true origin remains disputed, as noted by both sources. A vertical section showing the Delaware-Maryland border is currently housed at Princeton University, separate from the main auction item.
Sources
This article is based on reporting by the outlets below.
- New York Post: ‘Dixie’ map that divided US into North and South could fetch up to $1.2M at auction
- The Independent: 'Dixie' map that divided US goes up for auction after Library of Congress was forced to turn it down
