American history up for auction as nation marks 250 years, rare founding documents up for grabs

TLDR:

• Christie’s auction Friday features rare founding documents including a 1776 Declaration of Independence broadside estimated at $3-5 million
• Sale timed to America’s 250th birthday celebrations includes Constitution draft with real-time edits by delegate Rufus King
• Signed Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation that originally sold for $20 in 1864 now valued at $3-5 million
• Collection spans founding era to modern times with George Washington portrait and Little Bighorn battle flag

Christie’s auction house in New York is marking America’s upcoming 250th birthday with a Friday sale of rare documents and artifacts that chronicle the nation’s journey from founding to modern times.

The event, “We the People: America at 250,” brings together foundational texts, historic art and objects that shaped American history.

Leading the sale is a 1776 broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence from New Hampshire, produced by printer Robert Luist Fowle. The document carries an estimate of $3 million to $5 million.

“It’s historically significant because you get to see what people at the time actually saw,” said Peter Klarnet, senior specialist for books, manuscripts and Americana at Christie’s.

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PHOTOS: Auction marking the United States' 250th birthday features some of its most iconic documents

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While John Dunlap printed about 200 copies of the Declaration on the night of July 4, 1776 — only 26 are known to survive — other printers quickly produced their own versions.

“This is the way that everyday Americans would have encountered the Declaration of Independence whether it was tacked to a wall or read from the pulpit of their local congregation,” Mr. Klarnet said.

Another centerpiece is an edited draft of the U.S. Constitution by Rufus King, also estimated at $3 million to $5 million. Printed just five days before the final version emerged on Sept. 17, 1787, it shows the nation’s founding charter taking shape.

“This is the Constitution taking final form,” Mr. Klarnet said. “You can see the edits being made in real time.”

Mr. King, a Massachusetts delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, served on the Committee of Style, a five-member group charged with polishing the text.

“This puts you directly in Independence Hall as they’re drafting and making the final changes and edits to this remarkable document,” Mr. Klarnet said.

A signed Emancipation Proclamation also goes under the hammer. The authorized edition was created for the Great Central Fair, a Civil War fundraiser in Philadelphia in June 1864 that raised money for Union troops. It carries a $3 million to $5 million estimate.

“Lincoln, together with his Secretary of State William Seward and his Secretary John Nicolay, signed 48 copies of this,” Mr. Klarnet said. They originally sold for $20 each, though not all found buyers at the time.

American art features prominently. A Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington — believed to have inspired the face on the dollar bill — leads the category. James Madison commissioned the painting, which is estimated at $500,000 to $1 million.

Other works include a Jamie Wyeth painting of John F. Kennedy accepting the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination at the Los Angeles Coliseum, estimated at $200,000 to $300,000, and Grant Wood’s original pencil sketch of American Gothic drawn on an envelope, estimated at $70,000 to $100,000.

The sale also features historical objects including the only known flag recovered by U.S. forces from the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, expected to fetch $2 million to $4 million.

Historian Harold Holzer said such auctions highlight how private collectors preserve American history.

“Private collectors play an important role,” Mr. Holzer said. “They save things, they preserve things, and ultimately they pass on their collections.”

The items carry emotional weight, he added.

“You almost feel the electricity from these relics,” Mr. Holzer said, “their impact on the people, who not only read these documents, but fought for what they were calling for.”

He calls the documents “great words fought for with blood.”