Harvard Law School bought a stained and faded parchment in 1946 for just $27.50, believing it was an ordinary later copy of the Magna Carta. The document was catalogued as dating from 1327 and remained in the library for decades. Nearly 80 years later, medieval historians examining a digital image noticed that something about it did not fit that description. Further research and specialist imaging eventually showed that the parchment was an original version issued by King Edward I in 1300, making it one of only seven surviving copies of that edition.
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