Heritage Signuature Auction – Historical Manuscripts
June 25
HA.com/6257
877-437-4824

DALLAS — On June 25, Heritage will present The Founding Fathers’ Fight for Liberty and the Birth of a New Nation – Part I Manuscripts Signature® Auction, featuring the crown jewels of Przyborowski’s unparalleled collection, including his complete set of signers of the Declaration of Independence. Only a handful of complete sets have been offered at auction in the past century, with the last crossing the block a decade ago.

The sign’s message was simple but irresistible: “History for Sale” — three words that would lead Carl Przyborowski on a four-decades-long pursuit. The Chicago-area building contractor saw the enticing sign outside a specialty shop on the Las Vegas Strip, where he and his wife were vacationing in the mid-1980s. Intrigued, he entered the gallerylike space and stepped into a whole new world.

What started as one piece — a relic from an aviation pioneer — became thousands of pieces, including everything from letters written by Napoleon Bonaparte to signatures from the Three Stooges. “My collecting was all over the place,” Przyborowski says.

Eventually a collecting focus emerged: the American Revolution and the country’s Founding Fathers. He embarked on a quest to acquire signatures from all the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution — what he calls “the trifecta of American documents” — in addition to other related manuscript material.

With only 40 or so complete sets of signers of the Declaration of Independence in existence, most of those housed in institutions or public libraries, Przyborowski became part of a tiny circle of collectors. Now, in partnership with Heritage Auctions, he’s offering other history enthusiasts a chance to take his place in the exclusive club.

Przyborowski’s set of Declaration signers features manuscript material from all 56 men who, in 1776, took the first step toward forming the United States of America, as well as items from Secretary of the Continental Congress Charles Thomson and framer of the Declaration of Independence Robert Livingston, culminating in a total of 58 manuscript items. The set also includes one of the finest examples of the very few Button Gwinnett autographs to be offered in more than 25 years.

Gwinnett, who signed the Declaration as a representative from Georgia, died in a duel at the young age of 42, and few of his personal papers were preserved, making his signature the rarest of all the document’s signers. The most recent census, conducted in 2008, recorded only 51 extant Gwinnett autographs, 40 of which reside in institutional collections.

Thomas Lynch Jr, who signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative of South Carolina, died in 1779 when a ship on which he was a passenger was lost at sea. At just 30 years old, Lynch became the youngest signer of the Declaration to die, and his signature is the second scarcest of all the signers. The Lynch signature in Przyborowski’s collection — clipped from a larger manuscript and accompanied by an engraved scene of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — is one of only a handful to be offered in the past 50 years.

“Button Gwinnett and Thomas Lynch Jr — those are the two trophies of any signers set,” Przyborowski says.

Also offered in the auction is Przyborowski’s complete set of signers of the Constitution, which was signed September 17, 1787, by 39 delegates from 12 of the 13 states, as well as his nearly complete set of signers of the Articles of Confederation, which was adopted November 15, 1777, and served as the new nation’s first constitution.

While Przyborowski is selling nearly his entire collection through the June 25 auction and subsequent Heritage auctions, he is keeping a few select pieces for himself, including that Orville Wright-signed check his wife gifted him so many years ago. “That stays with me,” he says. “It has too much sentimental value to part with.”

Previews will conclude in Dallas June 22-24. For information, 214-528-3500 or www.ha.com.

The Founding Fathers’ Fight for Liberty and the Birth of a New Nation – Part 1
George Washington letter signed (“Go: Washington”). One page, “Head Quarters, Fish Kill” [New York]; October 8, 1775. General Washington, ever the strict disciplinarian, orders General McDougall to arrest four soldiers accused of abuse against civilians in New York.
George Washington letter signed (“Go: Washington”). One page, “Head Quarters”; [Fredericksburg, New Jersey]; October 23, 1778. General Washington commands General McDougall to march to Hartford to augment Major General Gate’s forces.
George Washington letter signed (“Go: Washington”). One page, “Head Quarters White Plains” [New York]; September 15, 1778. General Washington orders McDougall to march to Danbury to serve under the command of Major General Horatio Gates.
Complete Set of Declaration Signers.
With exemplars from all 56 Signers including an excessively rare Button Gwinnett document.
For inquiries please call 877-HERITAGE (437-4824) Sandra Palomino | Director, Historical Manuscripts