When good things happen to cheap people

Relevant to what we are studying in class, last year Michael Sparks, musician equipment technician from Tennessee found an 1823 copy of the Declaration of Independence in Music City Thrift Shop last March. He asked the clerk how much the old, yellowed, rolled up paper was and the clerk marked it for $2.48 plus tax! It was later discovered that this aged document turned out to be an "official copy" of the Declaration of Independence, which was one of 200 commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820 and finally printed on 1823 when he was secretary of state. A year later, Mark sold the document to Raynors' Historical Collectible Auctions in Burlington, North Carolina. Since that Thursday, six bidders via phone or Internet had place bids, which first opened at $125,000. It was late bought for $477,650 by an unrevealed winner. Mark’s plan for his "new found wealth" remain simple and humble however, when asked what he was going to do with it, he replied by saying he just wanted to by a used car, a sun room for his house, use it to help to support his parents and to give some to charity. Mark also says "You think it is a huge fortune, but by the time you figure it up and put some off for the taxes it is not. It is not a huge fortune, but more like a small fortune.”

We, coming from just learning about the background and history on the Declaration of Independence, know much about it. But for those who don't listen in class, the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, and it declared that the Thirteen Colonies in North America were "Free and Independent States.” It is said to be the founding document of the Unites States. There were fifty signatures including John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklyn, all men who has in some way shaped early America and help form it into what is is today.