Harvard bought this stained document for $27.50; decades later, experts realised it was an original Magna Carta

• Spectral imaging expert Bill Christens-Barry and Debora Mayor of the Weissman Preservation Centre Prepare HLS MS172 for imaging.
• Image Credit: Harvard Law TodayHarvard 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.