Christie’s is set to auction rare artifacts tied to the United States’ 250th birthday, with Friday’s New York sale branded “We the People: America at 250.” The program will bring together founding-era documents, landmark American art, and historic objects, with Christie’s specialists describing the items as windows into how Americans encountered national history.
Among the documents highlighted is a rare 1776 broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence produced in New Hampshire by printer Robert Luist Fowle, which Christie’s estimates at $3 million to $5 million. Christie’s senior specialist for books, manuscripts and Americana Peter Klarnet said the broadside is “historically significant because you get to see what people at the time actually saw.” He added that while the initial printing was produced by John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776, other printers quickly began producing their own versions.
Klarnet said the Fowle broadside shows the way “everyday Americans would have encountered the Declaration of Independence whether it was tacked to a wall or read from the pulpit of their local congregation.” He said the initial Dunlap run included about 200 copies and that only 26 are known to survive. Christie’s will also offer Rufus King’s edited draft of the U.S. Constitution, estimated at $3 million to $5 million.
The document, Christie’s says, was printed just five days before the final version was issued on Sept. 17, 1787, capturing the constitution while it was being finalized. Klarnet said, “This is the Constitution taking final form,” and added, “You can see the edits being made in real time.” Rufus King, a delegate from Massachusetts to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, also served on The Committee of Style, a five-member group tasked with refining the text.
The auction also includes a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, with Christie’s estimating the authorized printed edition at $3 million to $5 million. The authorized edition was commissioned for the Great Central Fair, a Civil War-era fundraiser held in Philadelphia in June 1864 to raise money for Union troops, according to Christie’s description. Klarnet said, “Lincoln, together with his Secretary of State William Seward and his Secretary John Nicolay, signed 48 copies of this,” and noted they were originally sold for $20 each and that not all were sold at the time.
American art figures prominently in the sale, with Christie’s listing Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington as a leading lot in the category, estimated at $500,000 to $1 million. Christie’s said the painting was commissioned by James Madison and that it is thought to have inspired the face on the U.S. dollar bill. Other works include a Jamie Wyeth painting of John F. Kennedy accepting the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination at the Los Angeles Coliseum, estimated at $200,000 to $300,000.
Christie’s also said it will offer Grant Wood’s original pencil sketch of “American Gothic,” drawn on the back of an envelope, estimated at $70,000 to $100,000. Beyond documents and art, the sale features a historic object highlighted as the only known flag recovered by U.S. forces from the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, which Christie’s expects to sell for between $2 million and $4 million.
Historians said auctions like this underscore the role of private collectors in preserving the nation’s material past. Harold Holzer said, “Private collectors play an important role,” explaining that they “save things, they preserve things, and ultimately they pass on their collections.” Holzer said the items’ emotional power remains meaningful, describing the experience as something that lets viewers feel “the electricity from these relics,” and he called the documents “great words fought for with blood.”