“Dixie” Map Sells For One-Million-Dollars

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — After a brief bidding war, the manuscript map that helped divide the United States into North and South, free and slave states, sold for $950,000. Lauren Brunk of Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina, said Thursday that 45 bidders battled for just under three minutes to own the hand-drawn survey of the Mason-Dixon Line, finished in 1768 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. Bidding started at $400,000. And while it didn’t fetch the hoped-for $1.2 million high estimate, Brunk says it was a very high price for an American map. She says the buyer asked to remain anonymous, at least for now.