The $4 Frame That Held a Treasure

In the summer of 1989, a Philadelphia financial analyst stopped at a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, and bought a small framed painting for $4.

He did not want the artwork.

He wanted the frame.

Back home, while trying to remove the painting, the frame suddenly fell apart. Hidden between the canvas and the backing was a folded piece of paper.

A friend who collected Civil War memorabilia suggested having it examined.

The document turned out to be an original Dunlap Broadside — one of the first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence produced overnight on July 4, 1776, by Philadelphia printer John Dunlap.

Historians believe about 200 copies were originally printed. At the time of the discovery, only 24 surviving copies were known.

In 1991, Sotheby’s auctioned the document for $2.42 million.

Not bad for a $4 picture frame.