This piece of sheet music bearing the words and music of "The Star Spangled Banner" will be auctioned on Dec. 3. In the 1800s, it was owned by Mary Barnitz of York County, Pa.

Oh Say Can You See …half a million dollars? A rare first edition of the sheet music for “The Star-Spangled Banner” sold for $506,500 at Christie’s Auction House in New York Friday ...

Lester S. Levy bagged his first-edition copy of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1940 for $170, appreciably less than an anonymous buyer plunked down — $506,5000 — 70 years later on Dec. 3 at ...

Myth No. 2: Key drafted "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the back of an envelope or letter.Reality: Most likely, Key wrote his draft on a clean sheet of paper using pen and ink.. Myth No. 3: Key ...

After witnessing a crucial episode of the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that, set to the melody of an 18th-century English drinking song, captured the patriotic picture of the American ...

It sounds like they were keeping with the tradition of parody that was the basis of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” And the melody actually comes from a British song – how did that happen?