030808 The Dunlap Copy #25 of the Declaration of Independence
"Once the Declaration [of Independence]'s text was revised into final form on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress commissioned its official printer, John Dunlap, to typeset and print copies. Dunlap, working from a corrected manuscript and supervised by the drafting committee, produced approximately 200 broadsides for distribution to the thirteen states and elsewhere.
Dunlap is believed to have worked feverishly through the night of July 4th to produce his broadsides so they could be posted and read aloud on July 5th to alert the citizenry of this momentous event in time. As John Adams later wrote, "We were all in haste."
The Dunlap copies do not carry the same title of unanimity as the original engrossed copy due to New York's abstention until July 9th. Instead, the Dunlap copies carry the title "In Congress July 4, 1776, A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled."
Only 25 Dunlap Copies are known to still exist. The last Dunlap copy sold at auction was offered by Sotheby's on eBay on June 29, 2000 and brought $8.14 million from collector Norman Lear, who partnered with Silicon Valley investor David Hayden. This copy made a tour of the country to allow Americans to view it." ( Source: Firelock.com )
I received a call from a friend on the county commission. They sponsored a display of the touring Declaration of Independence purchased by Norman Lear, and needed to get it to Billings Montana. Airlines were too time consuming, and to drive it 150 miles east would have required an expensive police escort. So, would Paragon be interested in flying it and its attendant? As the two police cars pulled up to our aircraft a couple business jet crews looked on and asked, “what’s up, flying a prisoner?” After explaining the situation they were incredulous. “What? Fly something that valuable in THAT little plane?” I took my father along and we had a spectacular flight. As a parting honor, both of us were permitted a private viewing of the Declaration (Pictured: chaperone Aimee Jasculca and Nagorski.)
The thunderstorm we dodged on the way down set off a string of grass fires which dad and I saw raging in the twilight on the way home. One of these became the largest wildfire in the country for a few weeks.
