American Declaration of Independence parchment found in Chichester is authentic

[barryqwalsh]

A copy of the American Declaration of Independence found in Chichester has been verified as one of only two ceremonial parchment copies in the world.



American Declaration of Independence parchment found in Sussex is authentic

 

[sparky]

Nice that someone saved an unedited copy ,eh?


~S~

 

[Cellblock2429]

Nice that someone saved an unedited copy ,eh?


~S~

/----/ Actually it was edited. Rare US independence declaration found in UK archive
1. Multi-spectral imaging of the document "revealed a date beneath an erasure on the document" which reads either "July 4, 178" or July 4, 179", researchers said.

2. The fourth digit for the year may have been permanently erased.

3. The Harvard Gazette said the most interesting feature of the document was its treatment of the list of signatories.

"In contrast to all other 18th-century versions of the declaration, on this parchment the list of signatories was not grouped by states.

"The team hypothesises that this detail supported efforts... to argue that the authority of the declaration rested on a unitary national people, and not on a federation of states," it said.

 

[whitehall]

The verification is a little vague. According to Wiki there are two series of authentic D/I issues. The "Dunlap" copies on 7/4/ 1776 of about 25 known and the "Stone" copies issued around 1820 which keep turning up periodically.