David Rubenstein, managing director of private equity firm The Carlyle Group, just bought a rare, original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation for $2.1 million, reports NPR.
Basically, this is one of the most badass ways to spend a couple million we've ever heard of. President Lincoln signed copies of the Proclamation to benefit Union soldiers in 1864, and there are only 48 known surviving copies. Rubenstein has the 26th.
“This particular document is I think the most important thing any president has ever done with the stroke of his pen. It did not end slavery, but it began the process toward the ending of slavery,” Rubenstein told CBS New York.
He paid the second highest price anyone has ever paid for this artifact, Robert Kennedy's estate sold one for $3.8 million two years ago.
Even more badass — this isn't the only epic document Rubenstein has in his collection. He also owns a rare printing of the Declaration of Independence (which he'll be loaning to the New York Historical Society next week), and a copy of the Magna Carta (on loan to the National Archives).
Rubenstein plans to loan his new Proclamation out too. So you'll be able to check it out somewhere in D.C. in the near future.
Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.