Office of Records That Should Not Exist

Property Receipt Associated with a 1215 Charter Copy

EV-1215-17B IN CONTROLLED CUSTODY CAP Rev. 12.4

Material

Parchment, iron gall ink, and a second ink of undetermined manufacture

Approximate manufacture

Consistent with the early thirteenth century

Approved invention date

1987, the year the policy cited on the face of the receipt was adopted

Recovery date

2026

Administrative age

-811 years, pending reconciliation

Current location

Vault 1, Office of Records That Should Not Exist. Cataloged for 811 years as a blank leaf.

Custodial office

Office of Records That Should Not Exist

Public impact

Level 3, Administrative

Entered register

August 13, 2026

Description

One leaf of parchment, sewn at one edge, associated with a volume in which a copy of the charter agreed at Runnymede in June 1215 had been kept.

The leaf bears, in order:

1. A heading: HAEB Form 17-B, Rev. 12.4, Declaration of Out-of-Period Property.
2. A description of the property, one line: “One charter, sealed, out of period.”
3. A citation: Directive 6.3, section 4, as revised in 1987, under the Continuity and Prior Events Act of 1908.
4. A disposition: RETAIN IN PLACE.
5. A custodian signature: Employee 000.
6. A date: June 1215.
7. A control number: PENDING PRIOR EXISTENCE.

On the reverse, a case citation: HAEB-UNFILED-0000. The reverse carries nothing else.

Chain of custody

1. June 1215. Receipt issued. Custodian recorded as Employee 000.
2. 1215 to 2026. The leaf is described as blank in every catalog in which it appears. No catalog has been corrected.
3. 2026. The leaf was described during a survey of blank leaves.
4. 2026. Accessioned into Vault 1, Office of Records That Should Not Exist.

Administrative age is computed under Directive 6.3 as the year custody commenced, less the year of the governing inventory record. 1215 less 2026 is negative 811.

The receipt therefore remains in initial custody and may not be transferred to the Office of Continuity Verification, which has requested it twice.

Examination

1. The parchment is consistent with the period.
2. The iron gall ink of the descriptive line is consistent with the period.
3. The ink of the heading, the citation, and the signature has not been matched to any known manufacture.
4. The form number carries Rev. 12.4, the revision in force at the date of examination.
5. The policy cited was adopted in 1987. The authority under which it was adopted has not been located.
6. The signature reads Employee 000. The Bureau holds no personnel record under that number.
7. The Office does not treat items 3 through 6 as errors. The Office treats them as the earliest known instance of correct filing.

Disposition

1. RETAIN in Vault 1.
2. The receipt is cited in HAEB-1215-17B as evidence that Form 17-B was in use at the date of the event.
3. Requests to examine the ink of the signature are referred to the office that signed it.
4. The receipt is not available for loan, reproduction, or exhibition.
5. A conservation assessment has been deferred, because conservation would require a determination of which additions are original.

The Bureau’s authority in 1215 is documented by the receipt the Bureau issued in 1215.