A quick glimpse of the market revealed a value for these volumes at around $100-200 a piece.  Not bad, but given their present state, and the collective need for some TLC from a sympathetic binder, these tomes were destined to be sold for scrap at auction.  After plowing through a few of these, I came across American Archives; Fifth Series, Volume I.  A cursory glance of this item suggested it would fare the same fate as its siblings.  Since I literally couldn’t judge this book by its cover as it didn’t have one, I dug right in.  And to my surprise,  the latter half of the book revealed a true diamond in the rough.

There in the back, just waiting to be discovered was a pristine facsimile copy of the Declaration of Independence encapsulated within the textblock.  It took a few moments for me to wrap my mind exactly what I was dealing with.  I mean wow.  With some additional  research I found that this particular copy of the Declaration of Independence has a conservative market value of between $17,000-24,000, with a high of $38,000.  Other copies that have sold for the lower amounts are typically ones that have been removed from the book and consequently experienced a good degree of wear and tear due to their exposure to the elements.

But this copy of ours by comparison is nothing short of phenomenal.  If any copy merits the premium value based on condition, ours is the one.  What a day — this was like finding a sizable diamond in an unassuming lump of coal.  And the moral of the story is — sometimes you have to look past an unassuming appearance to find something truly beautiful and amazing inside.

See more about our Declaration of Indpendence on Ebay!

–Ryan

Check out our store on eBay featuring part of our multi-million dollar Antiquarian, Rare and Collectable section!  Whether you’re an antique dealer, a book collector, map connoisseur, or you just love history and old stuff, you’ll find something worth checking out over there.

When I was a young child, I recall an oft-heard response from my mother: “I’ll believe it when I see it.” While she was mostly referring to my empty promises to clean up my room, practice the piano, or finish my homework, I usually find myself expressing that same sentiment when one of our ARC team members describes the latest ‘find’. Sure enough, once I see it, I am in awe.

We’ve taken that adage to heart and, for the last 8 months, have been putting a number of finer items up for public inspection on eBay. I know, I know, eBay?! It wasn’t until I obtained some obscure items for my personal collection of ecclesiastical history on eBay that I really became a believer. There are lots of advantages to eBay: a plethora of images, unlimited text descriptions, an open forum for Q&A, not to mention lots of exposure for obscure items and open-market competition. We’ve found such great success there that we have hired a full-time ARC Specialist with a focus on the eBay market.

So far, ARC’s presence on the eBay marketplace has connected a collector of antique Chinese drawings with an extensive collection of rare facsimiles. It has found a home for a hand-made collection of Walt Whitman photographs and a volume of plates from medieval Gospel books. And, it significantly augmented the collection of one researcher with the addition of facsimiles of the Washington Manuscript of the Minor Prophets in the Freer Collection and the Berlin Fragment of the Book of Genesis to his private collection. And, lest you think that all that we offer is from dusty and little known nooks of libraries, we’ve also been known to list limited edition prints of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, along with collectable editions of Popular Mechanics, TIME, and Harper’s Monthly – ok, ok, and a few MAD magazines and comic books as well.

While we will continue to list our entire ARC collection on BetterWorld.com – now more than 60,000 items – be sure to visit our eBay auctions and store where you will find some of the more interesting items that just have to been seen to be appreciated.