This makes constitutional history geeks salivate!
A damaged copy of the 1300 re-issue if Magna Carta has been discovered in an English library!
Oh I thought that placemat looked kind of old and dirty . . .
Just saw this on Facebook, too. It’s pretty cool. I’d love to run into something like that - even though I wouldn’t recognize it.
Pearl of Sandwich.
There’s more out there. It’s like you can’t actually look for it but eventually someone will ‘come across’ it.
Droool… 
(Seriously, thanks for sharing the news.)
I live in Sandwich and it is quite an exciting find for us.
It could be sold for a quick profit but the decision is to keep it and use it as a focal point for tourism. Smart move I think. It is a fairly wealthy little town as it is but a few more tourist pounds are always welcome.
I would think your Deli’s are pretty great
I’m just trying to see the logic here. As I understand it, it is a damaged copy of a document issued 80 years earlier?
I can see value, but why is this so special? I am not trying to threadshit, but the UK has many historical documents- I’m trying to fathom why a copy of the original is so sought after.
It was found paired with another extremely important document, and this pairing makes it unique.
Plus, it’s not a copy of the 1215 Magna Carta, but one of the originals issued by Edward III on his accession. So it is an original document, of a subsequent version.
Not to mention its from the 13th century, each of the two I’ve seen are beautiful works of art - handmade obviously, and its the foundation for modern English and American law. Its like finding a Gutenberg Bible or a Stradivarius.
Oh, and it isn’t a copy. The Magna Carta was reissued many times during the period. This is a different version than the earlier ones. In each version, no “original” exists, because each one was made by hand.
One would have to have a highly unusually erotic fixation on constitutional history . . . not saying that I don’t . . . I’ll be in my bunk. Emitting the Pearl of Sandwich.
But the important thing is, it contains Easter eggs which, if deciphered, will lead you to a cache of ancient treasures from the Middle East secreted in a cavern under the Tower of London!
That’s freaking cool.
I did, however, love the headline phrasing: “Magna Carta found in scrapbook may be worth millions”. Conjured up the mental image of it being in a modern, decorated-to-hell-and-back scrapbook. First you’re on the page for Timmy’s first day of school with faux chalkboards and apple stickers; then you flip the page and here’s the Magna Carta against a tapestry-patterned paper, snug in filigreed punched corner pieces and helpful information like the date hand-written in bubbly letters surrounded by vaguely Celtic knotwork-ish borders. 