?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000
THE FORCE PRINTING (DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.) Stone, William J.; engraver. In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declarationof the Thirteen United States of America. Engraving on rice paper, 31 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches; disbound with original folds, minimal offsetting and foxing, laid down on archival tissue with skillful repairs along folds. (MRS) [Washington, circa 1833]
The Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence is a cornerstone of Americana collecting. Stone painstakingly traced or copied the image onto the engraving plate over a three-year period. 200 copies were printed in vellum from his original plate in 1823. The plate was then altered slightly to produce rice-paper copies for Peter Force's American Archives series, with the original engraver's imprint rubbed out and a similar imprint added in the lower left beneath the signatures. These Force copies were printed from the altered plate by Stone in 1833, although they were not bound into volumes and released until 1848. Bidwell, American History in Image and Text 7n. See also Seth Kaller's recent pamphlet, "America's National Treasure: The Declaration of Independence & William J. Stone's Official Facsimile." Provenance: Sold by dealer Barb Pengelly to Milton J. Slater, circa 1990s.
