INCREDIBLY RARE AUTOGRAPH OF THOMAS LYNCH, JR.- ONE OF THE RAREST SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Signer of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina (1749–1779); his father had served in the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1776 but had to return home due to illness. Thomas Lynch, Jr., was chosen to take his father’s place in Congress, where he voted for and signed the Declaration. In 1779, he sailed to St. Eustatius in the West Indies, but his ship was lost at sea and never found. Exceedingly rare ink signature, “Lynch,” on an off-white 1.5 x .5 slip, expertly mounted within a custom-made 8.75 x 11 full morocco presentation folder along with engravings of Lynch and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, gilt-stamped on the front cover: “Thomas Lynch, Jr., One of the Rarest Signers of the Declaration of Independence.” In fine condition.

With the rise of autograph collecting in nineteenth-century America, one of the first areas of specialization was Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Apart from the Signers’ central role in American history and the unusual significance of their autographs—after all, writing their names is what ensured their immortality—obtaining all 56 represented the ultimate goal of the resourceful collector. It quickly became evident, however, that there were two notorious ‘stoppers’ among the Signers: Button Gwinnett and Thomas Lynch, Jr, because only a precious few ever existed. Gwinnett was lost in a duel , while Lynch was lost at sea, both at a very young age. It is not entirely clear who is rarer—while Gwinnett was generally thought to be the rarest of all signers, recent studies have proclaimed Lynch as the scarcer of the two. In either case, Lynch is certainly of the utmost rarity and is, far and away, one of the most desirable early American autographs ever to come to market.