Extraordinary collection of 52 items, comprising pieces signed by the signers of the United States Constitution (31 items), as well as delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention but did not sign the document (12 items), and those who were elected or appointed but did not attend the Convention (9 items).
Constitution signers include: Abraham Baldwin (free frank), Richard Bassett (ADS), Gunning Bedford, Jr. (third-person ADS), John Blair (ADS fragment), William Blount (DS), David Brearley (signature), Jacob Broom (DS), Pierce Butler (ALS), Daniel Carroll (LS), Jonathan Dayton (ADS), John Dickinson (signature), William Few (DS), Thomas Fitzsimons (ANS), Nicholas Gilman (check), Nathaniel Gorham (signature), Jared Ingersoll (DS), William Jackson (DS), Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer (DS), William Samuel Johnson (DS), Rufus King (ALS), John Langdon (DS), William Livingston (ADS), James McHenry (LS), Thomas Mifflin (signature), Gouverneur Morris (LS), William Paterson (signature), Charles Pinckney (third-person ADS), Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (ADS), John Rutledge (partial DS), Richard Dobbs Spaight (signature), and Hugh Williamson (signature).
Those who attended the Constitutional Convention but did not sign the document include: William R. Davie (ALS), Oliver Ellsworth (third-person ADS), William Houstoun (DS), John Lansing, Jr. (DS), James McClurg (ALS), Luther Martin (ALS), John Francis Mercer (ALS), Nathaniel Pendleton (ALS), William Pierce (DS), Edmund Randolph (DS), Caleb Strong (DS), and Robert Yates (partial ADS).
Those who were elected or appointed but did not attend the Convention include: Richard Caswell (North Carolina currency), Francis Dana (DS), Willie Jones (ANS), Patrick Henry (signature), Henry Laurens (DS), Thomas Sim Lee (DS), John Neilson (DS), John Pickering (ALS), and Erastus Wolcott (DS).
In overall very good to fine condition. A detailed listing is available online at RRAuction.com.
This extraordinary compilation of autographs encompasses the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and its historically significant participants, who are often overlooked by collectors in favor of their earlier counterparts, the signers of the Declaration of Independence. While the Declaration laid the foundation for American self-rule, the Constitution supplied the building blocks for its modern government. Of the final 40 signers of the Constitution (to include William Jackson, the secretary who supplied his attestation that the 39 delegates had authentically signed), this comprehensive collection lacks only nine autographs—George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Robert Morris, Roger Sherman, James Wilson, George Clymer, and George Read—most of which tend to be costly but readily available. As an immediate, near-complete collection of the tougher Constitution signers—as well as leading Revolutionary figures like Henry Laurens and Patrick Henry—this remarkable lot is ready to complement any collection of early Americana.
