Description:

W. J. STONE ENGRAVED DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
A magnificent, very rare engraved copy of the Declaration of Independence undertaken by Washington engraver William J. Stone, 26" x 32", bearing the complete text of the Declaration of Independence and in all respects, but for dimensions, identical to the engraving accomplished by him in 1823. In 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned Stone to undertake a copperplate engraving of the Declaration of Independence. Stone was given the priceless original document, and after using a new wet-ink transfer process and laboring three years, created a near-faultless copperplate. Two hundred and one official parchment copies were struck from Stone's plate, each carrying the identification: "Engraved by W. J. Stone for the Department of State, by order" in the upper-left corner, followed by "of J. Q. Adams, Sec. of State July 4th 1824" in the upper-right corner. This identification is not present on copies printed by Stone after 1824. Stone kept one copy for himself (which now resides at the Smithsonian) and delivered 200 copies to the Department of State which distributed them - pursuant to an act passed by Congress on May 26, 1824. Stone used his exact facsimile to make another copperplate and over the next twenty years printed the Declaration several times. Ours is one of those rare facsimiles, with "W. J. STONE SC. WASHN" engraved in the lower-left corner. It was from Stone's facsimile that Peter Force published the slightly smaller copy appearing in his "American Archives". Stone's facsimiles are earlier, of better quality, and of course much rarer than Force's, probably twenty times scarcer. Our copy is especially clean and bright, bearing just the slightest wear at extreme margins, with lower corners professionally filled simply to square-off the document. A superior item, today virtually unobtainable.

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May 13, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

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