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Permalink Reply by Mathias Johan Meyer on April 22, 2019 at 3:54am

Thank you for your contribution James. Best

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Permalink Reply by James on May 12, 2019 at 11:34pm

After doing some research, I discovered that I got many of the facts wrong regarding the story of the man who found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence at a flea market.  He actually “accidentally” purchased it for $4 back in 1989 at a flea market. What happened was that he found a torn painting in a frame.  It apparently was the frame that he was most interested in.  When he got home, he took the painting out of the frame, and that is when he discovered the original copy of the DOI.  The DOI had been folded and tucked away inside the frame.  

As it turned out, the DOI was one of the 26 original copies that are known to exist.  On the evening of July 4, 1776, a highly-regarded printer named John Dunlap, through contractual order of the Continental Congress, printed possibly as many as 200 copies of the DOI.  Apparently only 26 are known to have survived.  And this lucky flea-market buyer just happened to stumble upon one of them during the summer of 1989.

This original copy sold at Sotheby’s in 1991 for just over $2,400,000.

Of the 26 known original copies, 20 are owned by American organizations, 3 by British organizations, and 3 are in private hands.  

Here’s a link to the story as printed in the New York Times in 1991.

  https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/14/arts/declaration-of-independence...

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Permalink Reply by James on May 12, 2019 at 11:37pm

So if this original copy of the DOI was valued at $2.4 million in 1991, I wonder what it might sell for today.

Adjusted for inflation, that $2.4 million in 1991 would be the equivalent of approximately $4.5 million today.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on April 19, 2019 at 3:31pm

I read an article a few years back on this subject. You need to have someone look at your copy. Over the years there have been a number of printings. Some of the older issues have value but only certain ones.

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Permalink Reply by michelle on April 20, 2019 at 3:08am

yep I wonder who would know.  where did you find it?

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Permalink Reply by Mathias Johan Meyer on April 22, 2019 at 3:56am

Hello Michelle, I found it in Brazil.

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Permalink Reply by Mathias Johan Meyer on April 22, 2019 at 3:55am

Yes, I am trying to find an expert of Declarations of Independence, do you know one ?

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 20, 2019 at 12:50pm

Perhaps this link will help?

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Permalink Reply by Mathias Johan Meyer on April 22, 2019 at 3:55am

Thank you Eric, I am going to email Seth. Best

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on May 13, 2019 at 12:57am

I just saw this discussion; sorry, Mathias. Your images are of a modern, mass-produced reproduction of the Declaration of Independence. Probably from the second half of the 20th century.

Wish I had better news.

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Permalink Reply by Mathias Johan Meyer on May 13, 2019 at 1:09am

Thank you very much Steve. 

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