The signatures of three of the United States Founding Fathers on a letter could make it a $1-million document.
The letter, written in 1784, is signed by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. It will be sold in a sale closing November 12. It goes into the auction with an opening bid of $550,000 and with an estimate range of $750,000 to $1 million.
The letter is a diplomatic request to an envoy of the King of the Two Sicilies (the pre-unification southern Italian state).
The American statesmen, three of the prime movers of the American Revolution, ask for negotiations to open on a free-trade treaty.
The letter is two pages on folio paper sized 315mm by 197mm.
The contents are significant.
As the United States tried to make its way in the world it pioneered a new style of foreign policy. The new state didn’t want to join the system of alliances and dynastic powers that guided European international relations and instead planned to use free trade to make its relations.
The “Committee of Five” who drew up the Constitution included Jefferson, Adams (both future Presidents) and Franklin, who are among the best-known of the Founding Fathers.
British-born Thomas Paine (a major intellectual figure in the American revolution) wrote that “[the] plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe, because it is the interest of all Europe to have America as a free port.”
In order to set up treaty agreements delivering that trade and hopefully peace – “amity and commerce” – Adams, Franklin and Jefferson sat in a committee reaching out to courts in the Old World.
Bonhams, who are handling the letters sale, say it is the only such document to be found thus far.
US elections are a good time to sell documents relating to the foundation of the republic.
And the Founding Fathers (usually taken to mean those who signed the Declaration of Independence and other key documents) are enduringly and increasingly popular and valuable with collectors.
Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin are among the most celebrated and well-known of the Founding Fathers. They sat in the group of five who drafted the Constitution and Adams and Jefferson were the second and third Presidents of the United States, respectively.
At the end of last month, in a sale delayed by Hurricane Helene, a very early copy of the Constitution was sold for over $9 million. The most valuable document of all time is a $43.2-million copy of the Constitution from the first printing that was sold in 2021.
This document by far outprices anything else in the auction, no doubt because the trio of signatures are so significant. A letter in the same sale signed by Benjamin Franklin alone carries a top estimate of $15,000.
Bids are being taken online now and the sale closes after a live session on November 12 in Boston.
