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DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Original 1843 Peter Force American Archives Printing

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:16,000.00 USD Estimated At:22,000.00 - 28,000.00 USD
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Original 1843 Peter Force American Archives Printing
Autographs
Beautiful Printing of Peter Force’s Historic Rice Paper “Declaration of Independence” From “American Archives”
(DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE). (1843) Peter Force Printing, From the Original Plate with “W.J. Stone SC. WASHn.” Imprint. Crisp Rice Paper. Choice Very Fine.
This is a highly important opportunity to obtain one of the best, and earliest, original copies of one of America’s greatest historic documents. This original example is very beautiful and impressive, being extremely well printed on crisp rice paper, as made in 1843 by Peter Force. This copy of The Declaration of Independence measures fully to 29.75” high x 25.5” wide size. It is one of the nicest and cleanest we’ve handled, having been previously removed from its original “American Archives” book for display. It has the correct light creases in the rice paper as being the folds from its original folded position within the book with one fine invisible strip of archival reinforcement at one fold on its blank reverse, otherwise its quite perfect. This example is fully and absolutely original and authentic. It has the critical, definitive “W. J. Stone SC. WASHn.” plate imprint at the lower left. This is an impressive and extremely clean specimen that has great eye appeal and is perfect for framing and display.

In 1843, Peter Force used the original Stone Copperplate to print additional copies of the Declaration of Independence on rice paper for inclusion in Volume I of his multi-volume book “American Archives.” Congress authorized up to 1,500 copies of that book to be printed, but subscriptions fell far short of that number. The actual number of copies printed is unknown, with best estimates of about 500 copies made. All examples of the rice paper Declaration were meant to be folded for insertion in the inside front cover of Volume I of the Fifth Series, and by now, most have been removed. It is not known how many of the rice paper copies could have survived. Speculation suggests estimates of fewer than half of this printing have survived, in varying states of preservation.

The Stone and Force copies represent a double-edged sword. Certainly, they allowed additional people and institutions to obtain an identical facsimile of this most beloved of all historic American documents, but Stone’s Wet-Ink transfer process contributed to the deterioration of the original signed copy of the Declaration. Parchment does not respond well to water. The unfortunate result is that the Declaration of Independence, now on display in Washington, DC, is a rather sad-looking, faded document. Conversely, the Stone and Force printings that have survived are much nicer in appearance and they generally retain the fresh appearance with which the original was once endowed.

We expect this beautiful, current example will sell soon. As you read this information, there is another noted dealer offering an example priced at $39,950! Priced to sell, this outstanding, exceptionally choice example is certainly worth its very reasonable price of $29,995.


In 1823, Congress authorized the production of facsimile copies of the Declaration of Independence. Previous writers have claimed that this was done because the document was deteriorating rapidly, but another reason may have been the demand for copies of the document by some of the aging surviving original signers and others.

John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, oversaw the project. Noted engraver, William J. Stone, was commissioned to use a new Wet-Ink transfer process to create a copper-plate from which facsimile copies could then be made. By wetting the original document, some of the original ink was transferred to the copper-plate, which was then used for printing. Stone printed 201 copies on Parchment (or Vellum, the same type of material on which the original was handwritten).

He kept one for himself (this copy now resides in the Smithsonian), and other copies were distributed to Thomas Jefferson, President James Monroe, members of Congress, surviving original Signers, various colleges and universities, and others. Of the original 201 copies, only 31 examples are currently known to exist, 19 of which are permanently impounded in museums. The remaining dozen vellum examples rarely are offered for sale and today typically bring $550,000 and more! Recently a copy of the 1823 Broadside Vellum printing of Declaration of Independence brings $597,500.