A July 1776 broadside of the Declaration of Independence is on offer at Sotheby’s, where it is estimated at $2 to $4 million. It comes to auction less than four years after it sold at Christie’s for just $930,000. The document will be offered in a standalone auction on January 24.

“There’s been a growing appreciation among collectors for these objects at auction in the past couple of years, largely attributed to the entry of new buyers into the market—some transitioning from other collecting areas—who recognize these documents as undervalued treasures given their rarity and historical significance,” said Selby Kiffer, Sotheby’s senior international specialist, books and manuscripts, in an email. “This influx of interest has driven competition and set several new auction records, both at Sotheby’s and other venues, within just the past eight months.”

The Declaration, Thomas Jefferson later wrote, was intended as “an expression of the American mind,” and would reflect “the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.”

It resolved “that these United Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

This printing is attributed to Robert Luist Fowle of Exeter, New Hampshire. As an interesting historical footnote, the printer was a Tory, loyal to the British throne.

This copy is referred to as the Goodspeed’s-Sang-Streeter copy, in reference to its provenance. 

“This rare printing of the Declaration of Independence is a cornerstone of American history, offering a glimpse into the transformative moment when the United States declared its independence,” said Kalika Sands, Sotheby’s head of books and manuscripts, Americas, in press materials. “The Essex broadside, one of the earliest versions to reach the public, not only captures the bold spirit of a nation in its infancy but also stands as a timeless emblem of American heritage.”

It is one of only 13 contemporary broadsides of the Declaration of Independence issued that year. Of these, just 10 examples of the Essex broadside are known to exist, and the majority, according to the auctioneer, reside in the collections of institutions such as the American Antiquarian Society and the Library of Congress.

Courtesy Sotheby’s.

If it makes its high estimate, it will join the ranks of the top-selling copies of the Declaration. The record, set at Sotheby’s in 2000, is $8.1 million, and the second-highest is $3.4 million, sold at Sotheby’s this past June against a high estimate of $5 million. 

Congress finalized the Declaration on July 4 after three days of debate and sent it on to that body’s official printer, John Dunlap, who prepared it for printing so that it could be distributed to the public. Printers in the colonies then reproduced it and distributed it to a public hungry for proof of independence. 

Thirteen broadside editions are known to have been produced, with about 100 known copies surviving. More than a quarter of those are Dunlap printings, and at least 79 broadside copies reside in institutions, said the house. 

The Fowle printing is distinctive in part for its two-column format; it also introduces some italic type. Eagle-eyed proofreaders will note that Fowle initially misspelled the names of both the president and the secretary of Congress. He corrected John Hancock’s name but did not remove an extraneous p from the name of Charles Thomson. 

This printing passed through two noted Americana collections. One was created by Thomas W. Streeter and focused on early American history; it was sold at Sotheby’s in 1967. It then went to Philip and Elsie Sang, Chicago collectors and American history enthusiasts whose holdings were sold at Sotheby’s in a series of sales starting in 1978.

Sotheby’s is on a roll when it comes to historical documents: it sold a so-called Goldman copy of the U.S. Constitution in 2021 for $43.2 million, the highest price ever achieved for a historical document, to hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who famously beat out the group ConstitutionDAO for the prize. That one is on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. 

The market for historical documents is cooking elsewhere as well. A much smaller house, Brunk Auctions, in Asheville, North Carolina, sold a 1787 copy of the Constitution for some $9 million. It had turned up in a filing cabinet at the Hayes Plantation, a property once owned by Samuel Johnston.