An original Magna Carta went up for sale December 18 at Sotheby’s. Although it didn’t fetch the upper end of the $30 million potential estimate, it was sold for a tidy sum of $21.3 million.

The 13 century document brought rights to subjects under English rule and was the foundation of many other significant. documents, like the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

It was auctioned off to David Rubenstein, a lawyer and founder of The Carlyle Group.

Mr. Rubenstein was quoted as saying:

“I was determined to do what I could to see that the National Archives can continue to display this … I am really just a temporary custodian of it."

The sellers of the copy, the Perot Foundation who purchased it back in 1982 for $1.5 million, had kept the original Magna Carta copy at the National Archives.

A video BBC News account of the auction follows: