Making of a Nation

The Stone Facsimile of the Declaration of Independence[Washington]: Willliam J. Stone for the Department of State, 1823&nbsp; Copperplate engraving on vellum (approx. 29 1/2 x 23 1/4 in.; 748 x 592 mm, sight). The first “exact” facsimile, one of 201 copies printed by William J. Stone by order of Congress and Secretary of State John Q. Adams, 1823, with a very faint inscription at bottom left penned and signed by John Quincy Adams—the man responsible for creating the Stone Declarations. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” In 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams noted that the priceless engrossed and signed Declaration was already deteriorating. With Congressional approval, he commissioned William J. Stone to engrave the image onto a copper plate. The engraving is as close to an exact copy of the original manuscript as was possible at that time, before the use of photographic replication. Stone worked on the engraving for close to three years, keeping the original in his shop. On 11 April 1823, Adams noted a visit from “Stone the Engraver, who has finished his facsimile of the original Declaration of Independence.” By 10 May, the engrossed manuscript was back in Adams’s hands. On 28 May 1823, Daniel Brent, working under John Quincy Adams in the Department of State, wrote to Stone requesting 200 copies of the facsimile “from the engraved plate…now, in your possession, and then to deliver the plate itself to this office to be afterwards occasionally used by you, when the Department may require further supplies of copies from it.” Stone proceeded to print 201 copies on vellum, one of which he kept for himself, as was customary though perhaps not authorized in this case. (His widow donated that one to the Smithsonian in 1888.) It took a full year for Congress to decide how to distribute the Stone Declarations. On 26 May 1824, Congress ordered that the three surviving Declaration signers (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carroll of Carrollton) be given two copies each. Two copies each were also sent to President James Monroe, Vice President Daniel D. Thompkins, former President James Madison, and the Marquis de Lafayette. The Senate and the House of Representatives split twenty copies. The federal government departments received twelve copies apiece. Two copies were sent to the President’s house and two to the Supreme Court chamber (one of which was recently re-discovered). The remaining copies were sent to the governors and legislatures of the states and territories, and to various universities and colleges throughout the country. Many still incorrectly believe Stone used some sort of wet or chemical process to transfer the ink to create such a perfect reproduction, thus hastening the destruction of the original manuscript. In fact, he left minute clues to distinguish the original from the copies, also providing evidence of his painstaking engraving process. Stone’s engraving is the best representation of the Declaration as the manuscript looked prior to its nearly complete deterioration. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In his early draft of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson scraped off the word subjects, replacing it with citizens. That change shows the essence of the American story. The Signers knew that proclaiming the self-evident truth, that all men are created equal, did not make it so. Still, they put their lives on the line to support the idea that governments should work to foster unalienable personal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The proclamation separating America from Great Britain—the greatest break-up note in history—made no attempt to create a new government. Yet the Declaration, not the Constitution, is rightfully considered America’s founding document. As John Hancock wrote in one of his cover letters to the states, it was “the ground and foundation of a future government.” Back to 1776. On 2 July, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia resolved that the United States were Free and Independent. This was the famous vote that Caesar Rodney rode through the night for. Two days later, the delegates approved the text of the Declaration, pledging to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to uphold its principles. The original July 4th manuscript—signed only by John Hancock as President and Charles Thomson as Secretary of Congress—was immediately sent to printer John Dunlap. Over the next few days, John Hancock sent Dunlap’s broadsides (single printed pages with text on one side) to the state governments, General Washington and other military commanders, and to political leaders. From there, the text spread throughout the former colonies via broadsides and newspapers. On 9 July, New York’s Assembly received a printed copy, and finally voted for independence. It wasn’t until 19 July 1776, after the news from New York reached Philadelphia, that Congress ordered an official copy of the Declaration to be engrossed on vellum and signed by the members, with a new title: “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America” (it had been “A Declaration by the Representatives…”). Timothy Matlack, the clerk of Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson, was chosen to pen the text onto a large vellum sheet. On 2 August 1776, the Journal of Congress records that “the declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed” by the members of Congress then assembled. Their signatures are grouped by state, ordered geographically, with the delegates from New England signing first. Several delegates not present signed later. (The last to sign was Thomas McKean, as late as 1781). The signers names were not published at all in 1776. After the decisive battles of Trenton and Princeton, on 18 January 1777, Congress ordered new authenticated copies of the Declaration for distribution to the states, complete with signer’s names. Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore printed these broadsides, at least one of which was sent to every state. Only nine of the Goddard broadsides are known to exist, some signed by John Hancock and Charles Thomson. The first opportunity the public had to see any approximation of the image of the engrossed Declaration was after the War of 1812. Responding to a new patriotic fever, in 1818 John Tyler and in 1819 John Binns issued artistic prints of the Declaration with facsimile signatures. THE INSCRIPTION AND PROVENANCE This is one of three copies collected by William Coleman, who compiled the first census of Stone copies. He donated one to the White House in 1984, and sold another to benefit the Manuscript Society (we believe at Superior Auction May 9,1992). From 1993-2001, Coleman exhibited this copy of the Stone Declaration at Monticello. Coleman sold this Stone Declaration at Sotheby's on 12 December 2001. Our cataloguing noted, “The present copy bears an unaccomplished presentation in a secretarial hand.” That, of course, is not quite right, as “unaccomplished” means not filled in; this had been written out, though we just cannot read to whom. The buyer’s estate sold this Stone Declaration at Christie’s, June 9, 2004, lot 369. Christie’s described “a faded ink inscription,” but nothing more. Coleman had mentioned the inscription in his article on the Stone Declarations: “My copy bears a written presentation signed by John Quincy Adams with a space left blank for insertion of the name of the recipient.” (Manuscripts, Vol. XLIII, No. 2, Spring 1991. “Counting the Stones—A Census of the Stone Facsimiles of the Declaration of Independence, By William R. Coleman.”) In 2008, the present owner initiated research into the John Quincy Adams inscription. After seeing parts of the inscription much more clearly under UV and infrared light, they found that it matches John Quincy Adams’ very distinctive handwriting, as Coleman had previously claimed. They also confirmed that the space was not “left blank for insertion of the name of the recipient” as Coleman had written, but rather the recipient’s name had been rubbed out. The scraping off is much deeper where the name of the recipient was; it has yet to be deciphered. It is fair to expect that John Quincy Adams would only have personally inscribed the document to someone of great importance. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison first come to mind. Neither of Jefferson’s two Stone copies are known to survive. (“Thomas Jefferson” fits in the space here, but we can’t see enough to determine the name “Jefferson). One of Madison’s copies of the Stone Declaration survives, without any inscription. Both of John Adams’ copies were delivered to him uninscribed. After his death, when John Quincy Adams was organizing his late father’s estate, he added a note on the back of both of his father’s Stone Declaration copies which are now owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society. PROVENANCEWilliam Coleman, who compiled the first census of Stone copies — Sotheby's New York, 21 December 2001 — Christie's, 9 June 2004, lot 369 — privately purchased by the present owner in 2007

The Declaration of Independence:  The Celebrated William J. Stone Facsimile, 1823

Gilbert Stuart

The Steigerwalt-Parker-Hart Portrait of George Washington (Vaughan Type)oil on canvas29 ⅝ by 24 ⅝ in.&nbsp;75.3 by 62.6 cm.Executed in 1795.

The Steigerwalt-Parker-Hart Portrait of George Washington (Vaughan Type)

Thirteen star American Flag, 5 pointed variant of the "Great Star Pattern" [likely Rhode Island], ca. 1777-1794 Stripes of homespun wool bunting, hand-stitched with cotton and linen thread, cotton stars single-appliquéd and under-hemmed, hoist of plain weave cotton binding along the hoist, with two whip-stitched, buttonhole grommets; with field or camp repairs. The famed ex-Mastai Collection "Kirby Flag." One of the earliest American flags extant, with attributed Revolutionary War provenance of Lt. Ephraim Kirby of Connecticut, wounded multiple times in the Revolution and ensign in Olney’s Rhode Island Battalion—an integrated unit partly comprised of the remains of the “Black Battalion” (the first such of its kind in America).&nbsp; Though Ephraim Kirby spent much of the early war at the rank of private, he nonetheless managed to forge a larger-than-life presence that continued well after the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Participating in 19 engagements with the enemy, he was wounded 13 times. In one skirmish along the Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia, he is recorded as having been slashed in the head 7 times by a saber and left for dead. On 23 August 1782, he received a commission with the rank of ensign. In this role he became flag-bearer.&nbsp; In 1783, Kirby became a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Within Washington’s lifetime, Kirby held the positions of Secretary (1793–1797) and Vice President (1797–1798) of the organization in the State of Connecticut.&nbsp; EXHIBITIONHall of Science in Flushing Meadows Park, in Corona, New York: Selections from the Mastai Flag Collection, July 1977Museum of The American Revolution: “A New Constellation,” 14 June–21 July 2019;&nbsp;"Flags &amp; Founding Documents," 12 June–6 September 2021;&nbsp;"Banners of Liberty," 19 April–10 August 2025

Thirteen star American Flag, 5 pointed variant of the "Great Star Pattern" [likely Rhode Island], ca. 1777-1794

The Important Biddle Family Queen Anne Carved Walnut Armchair, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1755

Maxfield Parrish

Maxfield Parrish(1870 - 1966) “King George III, Dear Sir: When in the Course of…” (Young America Writing the Declaration of Independence)signed Maxfield Parrish, signed with the initials M P and dated 1909 (lower left)oil on paper16 by 15 ¾ in.&nbsp;40.6 by 40 cm.&nbsp;Executed in 1909.

“King George III, Dear Sir: When in the Course of…” (Young America Writing the Declaration of Independence)

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.Birmingham Jail Logbook, signed by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy Single bifolium (11 x 14 inches; 288 x 356 mm), two conjugate leaves from a commercially-printed ledger book, dated between 3/4/63 and 11/27/63, ruled in blue and red on cream stock, signed by King twelve times—seven on page 61 and five on page 63—and Ralph D. Abernathy five times, three on page 61 and twice on page 63. Partial separation and minor loss at center hinge, light handling and moderate toning, signatures in blue ballpoint ink, bold and legible. "INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE." This seemingly routine record of incoming correspondence reflects on the most consequential episodes in American history. The sheet logs the incoming mail of the Birmingham City Jail for the spring and summer of 1963, its columns densely filled in multiple hands with dates, names, delivery modes, and recipient signatures, documenting the flow of correspondence into a facility that was, for a critical stretch of weeks, the temporary receiving point for Southern Christian Leadership Conference and its leadership. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on Good Friday, April 12, 1963, during the SCLC's Project C—for Confrontation—a direct-action campaign targeting Birmingham's segregated commercial district. The Birmingham authorities, under Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor, were among the most intransigent in the South, and King's imprisonment was both a calculated strategic move and a genuine danger. While confined, he read in a smuggled copy of the Birmingham News an open letter signed by eight white Alabama clergymen urging him to stand down, to trust the courts, to wait. His response became the "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguably the most important prose document of the American civil rights movement. The Letter is a work of extraordinary rhetorical and moral force: a systematic dismantling of the case for gradualism, a defense of nonviolent direct action as the only available instrument of justice, and a sustained meditation on the difference between just and unjust law drawing on Augustine, Aquinas, Tillich, and Buber with the fluency of a trained theologian. Composed in fragments under harsh conditions of physical confinement and surveillance, smuggled out through King's legal team, and distributed first as a mimeographed pamphlet before achieving wider publication, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written against time and against the counsel of white moderation — and has been repeatedly reprinted, anthologized, and taught. A sympathetic contact smuggled in a copy of the April 12 Birmingham News, which carried "A Call for Unity," an open letter signed by eight white Alabama clergymen urging King to abandon his campaign and trust the courts. The statement provoked him into an immediate response. As King later wrote in Why We Can't Wait: "Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly Negro trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me." Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, arranged $160,000 in bail to free King and the other jailed protesters; King walked free on April 20, 1963. This log sheet is a rare institutional artifact of that history: a record-keeping trace capturing King’s incoming correspondence—signed by him twelve times. The entries for April 12 and the weeks immediately following document the rapid flower of incoming correspondence to King, Ralph Abernathy, and their associates in real time—the telegrams, special delivery letters, and registered mail that connected the jailed leadership to the movement outside. The signatures in the right-hand columns, acknowledging receipt, include King's own. Among the few known surviving artifacts directly tied to King’s Birmingham confinement, this jail communication log preserves an institutional record of the incoming correspondence acknowledged by King and Abernathy during the days surrounding the composition and circulation of the Letter from Birmingham Jail. The entries date between 3/4/63 and 11/27/63 including the period between 4/12/63 to 4/20/63, the dates of King’s incarceration. The four pages (front and back) are still partially hinged at the center, numbered 61 to 64. Each line represents a written communication received at the jail, with the left-hand page recording the date, the inmate's name, and the type of correspondence, while the right-hand page was reserved for the recipient's signature confirming delivery. While page 60 (which would have recorded the incoming log written by an employee of the jail) is not present, the facing page 61 documents 7 incoming items signed for by King. Page 62 notes the delivery of a "SP Dil Letter" (special delivery letter) on 4/17; a "W U Telegram" and "Reg. Let." arrived on 4/19, and two more Western Union telegrams on 4/20, the day of his release. A powerful document of the Civil Rights movement, a poignant reminder of King’s fight against institutional injustice, logged during the creation of a masterwork of American letters, and its clarion call for Freedom everywhere: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” PROVENANCEAccording to family oral history reported by Hake’s, the pages were preserved by a Birmingham jail employee after he was instructed to destroy the ledger, then descended in that employee’s family — Hake’s Auctions, Auction #231 Part I, 24 February 2021, lot 1

Martin Luther King’s Incarceration for Peaceful Protest: The Birmingham Jail Warden’s Log

painted in the center with a figure of Fame holding aloft the badge of the Society of the Cincinnati length 10 1/2 in.; 26.7 cm

An Extremely Rare Chinese Export 'Order of the Cincinnati' Platter, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, circa 1785 | 清乾隆 約1785年 青花粉彩描金「辛辛那提協會」盤

Laura Wheeler Waring

Flag Bearers

finely potted with a slightly tapered foot rising to deep rounded sides, the exterior painted with a continuous scene of the hongs at Canton by the Pearl River, the factories flying the French, Imperial Austrian, Swedish, British, Dutch and Danish flags, the paved waterfront bustling with European and Chinese figures, the interior painted with a central floral basket encircled with an elaborate border of further flower baskets alternating with shaped panels and flower festoons, all underneath a green and gilt husk band diameter 14 1/8 in.; 36 cm

A Chinese Export 'Hong' Punch Bowl, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, 1780-85 | 清乾隆 1780-85年 粉彩廣州十三行景圖大盌

Daniel White Horse

Daniel White Horse (Oglála Lakhóta, fl. circa 1900-1910) Circa 1910 Pigment on deer hide

The White Horse Winter Count

height 28¼ in. by width 56 in. by depth 47 in. black walnut, white pine and oak. appears to retain an old and probably original finish.&nbsp;

The Historically Important Abigail Wiswell Jones William and Mary Gateleg Dining Table, Boston, Massachusetts, Circa 1720

Ida Ten Eyck O'Keeffe

Ida Ten Eyck O'Keeffe&nbsp;(1889 - 1961) The County Seat&nbsp;signed Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe (lower left); signed Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe, dated 1941 and titled (on the reverse)&nbsp;oil on canvas in hooked rug frame49 ¼ by 49 in.&nbsp;125.1 by 124.5 cm.Executed in 1941.

The County Seat

Joseph Francis Kernan

Joseph Francis Kernan&nbsp;(1878 - 1958) In Congress, July 4, 1776signed J-F -Kernan- (lower right)oil on canvas28 by 22 ⅛ in.71.1 by 56.2 cm.Executed in 1932.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

Youqua

Youqua (fl. 1840-1880)煜呱（活躍於1840-1880年） oil on canvas, depicting the American, French, British and Danish factories on the Canton waterfront next to the church, the pearl river bustling with Chinese figures on junks and other vessels, 18 by 31 in.45.7 by 78.7 cm

A View of Hongs at Canton, Circa 1850 | 清道光 / 咸豐 約1850年 廣州十三商館 油彩 裝框

Chinese School

mid-19th century oil on canvas, depicting the American vessel Eliza &amp; Ella flying the American flag off the coast of Hong Kong 21 by 26 in.53.3 by 66 cm

Making of a Nation

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