A Man Bought a $4 Painting for the Frame and Found the Declaration of Independence Behind It

In 1989, an unidentified man walked into a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania and spotted a painting he did not particularly like. But the frame caught his eye. He paid $4 for it.

When he got home and began disassembling the frame, something unexpected fell out. Folded behind the canvas and wooden backing was a large document. It was old. Very old.

He brought it to an expert. The document turned out to be one of approximately 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence printed by John Dunlap on the evening of July 4, 1776 - the very night Congress voted to adopt it. These Dunlap broadsides were the first printed copies of the Declaration, produced before the famous handwritten and signed version that hangs in the National Archives.

At the time of discovery, it was only the 25th known surviving copy. A 26th was later found in 2009 at the UK National Archives in Kew.

The condition was remarkable. The document had been protected from light and humidity by the painting that concealed it, possibly for over a century.

In 1991, the copy was auctioned at Sotheby's and sold for $2.42 million to Visual Equities, an Atlanta-based fine art investment firm.

In 2000, the copy returned to Sotheby's. This time, TV producer Norman Lear and internet entrepreneur David Hayden co-purchased it for $8.14 million (a $7.4 million winning bid plus buyer's premium).

Lear subsequently toured the document around the United States in a custom-built, climate-controlled display case, making it publicly viewable across the country. He wanted Americans to see the real thing up close.

The man who bought the painting for $4 has never been publicly identified. He wanted the frame. He got a piece of American history worth eight million dollars.