COURTESY TO THE STAR-BULLETIN This copy of the Hawaii state Constitution of 1950 is for sale on eBay. The bidding starts at $30,000.

1950 Hawaii Constitution listed on eBay for $30,000

First the skull of a Hawaiian warrior last year and now a copy of the Hawaii State Constitution of 1950 is . The bidding starts at $30,000.

"The seller wants to remain anonymous," said Griffin Anderson, district manager of QuikDrop in Highlands Ranch, Colo., a franchise that sells items on eBay for its customers.

"He put the price on it. We tried to do some research to determine if it's a legitimate price, but we couldn't find out anything so I guess it will sell for what the market will bear," Anderson said.

Anderson said the unidentified man brought the framed 37 1/2-by-31 1/2-inch document and wanted it sold. He told Anderson that he got it from a delegate to the 1949 Constitutional Convention, who along with other signers got copies of the document. His understanding was that each member of the constitutional delegation got a copy.

Anderson said the framed copy hung on the wall of a Honolulu law firm for about 30 years and that some of the signatures have faded. He declined to identify the firm in deference to his unidentified customer.

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Shaner says the State Archives has a signed copy of the Constitution that is missing two signatures. She said that the state's copy is signed and certified by the governor saying it is authentic. The one offered for sale is missing about four signatures, Shaner said. She also did not know how much it was worth.

It is the first such document that Anderson has tried to sell.

In 1949 the Hawaii Constitution was written by delegates to a constitutional convention. On Nov. 7, 1950, the people of Hawaii ratified it in an election. Under the Act of March 18, 1959, the U.S. Congress ratified it. The Constitution then went into effect on Aug. 21, 1959, when a presidential proclamation admitted Hawaii into the Union.

In 2004, Jerry David Hasson of Huntington Beach, Calif., was indicted for trying to sell a 200-year-old skull of a native Hawaiian warrior on eBay with an initial bid of $1,000 and an immediate purchase price of $12,500.

In January 2005, Hasson pleaded guilty to a federal charge of engaging in interstate commerce with illegally unearthed archaeological items. He was sentenced to 600 hours of community service, told to pay more than $13,000 in part to cover the investigation and ordered to publish an apology in several Hawaii newspapers and on an eBay bulletin board dedicated to archaeological memorabilia.

Hasson obtained the skull when he visited Kaanapali Beach on Maui as a teenager in 1969 at a time when Whalers Village, a shopping center, was being built.