[DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE] Early Hand-Colored Lithograph Signing of the Declaration

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Day 2: Early & Historic Americana

By Fleischer's Auctions

Oct 10, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-10-10 09:00:00 2025-10-10 09:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Day 2: Early & Historic Americana https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/fleischers-auctions/day-2-early-historic-americana-19250
Day one of Fleischer's 2025 Fall Premier auction includes early American artifacts, documents, signatures, ephemera, and weaponry. Rare material relating to African American history is featured, as well as fine examples of antique photography. Fleischer's Auctions info@fleischersauctions.com

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• Lot Description

  [Asher Brown Durand, engraver.] after John Trumbull, artist. The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.  Hand-colored engraving. [New York, circa 1823]. Visible 27.5 x 15 in. Handsomely matted and framed to 36.5 x 38 in. 

   

  A beautiful hand-colored engraving of “The Declaration of Independence”, which was originally painted by John Trumbull (1756-1843) between 1786-1797.

   

  Trumbull captures the moment when the Declaration of Independence was presented to the eventual signees of the document. Included in the portrait are the likenesses of 36 figures painted from life, 9 rendered from portraits, one was visualized from Trumbull’s memory, and one from a written description. Serving as a soldier in the Revolutionary War under George Washington and later introduced to Benjamin Franklin, Trumbull had integrated himself amongst the Founding Fathers. With his detailed style, their likenesses were captured expertly, memorializing their legacies. 

   

  This copy was likely by Asher Brown Durand, an American painter and engraver, was commissioned to engrave Trumbull's painting, which was completed in 1823. Durand's engraving served as the exemplar from which a multitude of other copies were produced in various media. This particular iteration is hand-painted to add color, mimicking the original painting by Trumbull. 

   

  An inscription detailing the history of the engraving was added on the reverse in 1945 by Argus E. Ogborn, a WWII veteran from the Army Air Corps who was a documented historian and Civil War collector. In addition to describing the history of Trumbull’s painting, he includes his own relationship with the piece: “A much larger untrimmed copy hung in the law office of Han Wilfred Jessup in the Old Dickinson Co. building in Richmond when I was associated there 1931-35–Argus E. Ogborn.” This exact piece was allegedly found at the Municipal Electric Light Plant in Richmond, Indiana, and sent to Argus E. Ogborn upon its discovery.

   

  This fine item tracks a lineage of historical intrigue, from the 19th-century desire to recreate an 18th-century portrait of the founding fathers, to the inscription from a later collector of the 20th century. 

   

  Note: This lot cannot be packaged and shipped in-house. Successful bidders winning items marked as being packaged and shipped by a third-party service are responsible for paying the third party directly. We are happy to offer complimentary drop-off service to local third-party packing/shipping companies in Columbus, Ohio.

   

  [Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America] [George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock]

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