Map that came to symbolise America's divide over slavery auctioned for nearly $1 million

A hand-drawn map of the Mason-Dixon Line, which became a symbol of the divide between free and slave states in the United States, sold for $950,000 at an auction in Asheville, North Carolina, on Thursday. Forty-five bidders competed for the historic document, with the contest lasting just under three minutes.The bidding began at $400,000 for the survey, completed in 1768 by British surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. The sale was conducted both online and in person at Brunk Auctions. Although the final price fell short of the auction house's high estimate of $1.2 million, its vice-president Lauren Brunk said she was pleased with the result.“It’s a very high price for a map," she said.The buyer has asked to remain anonymous, at least for now, Brunk said. The Library of Congress, which lost out when the map was sold in 1982, did not participate in Thursday's bidding.The map was originally commissioned to resolve a boundary dispute between the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania. However, its historical significance grew over time as the Mason-Dixon Line became associated with the division between the northern free states and the southern slave states.The line was later used in the 1820 Missouri Compromise to establish limits on slavery in the young United States. It became synonymous with the deep divisions over slavery that ultimately led to the American Civil War four decades later.The late publisher Malcolm Forbes bought the map in 1982 for $360,000, outbidding the Library of Congress. It was sold again in 2002 for $556,000, making Thursday's sale a significant increase over its previous auction price.Brunk said she was pleased that the historic document had been entrusted to the auction house.“I would like to say I’m thrilled that this is going to a good home and we are so happy to have had it in our presence for these last months,” Brunk said. “It also feels like a privilege to have been entrusted to steward this one owner to the next.”A vertical section of the map depicting the Delaware-Maryland border is housed at Princeton University.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.