The price of 'independence': $8.1 million

"This is an official state document, and it should stay in the public domain and not go into a private collection," says Secretary of State James Langevin. "It's part of our shared heritage."

In Maine's case, though, the issue of ownership is more murkier. The copy in question was sent to a Rev. Gilman. It was to be read after Sunday service and then given to the town clerk to officially record.

By all accounts, that happened, and it was returned to Gilman. "It was a private document in the hands of a private citizen," says Stan Klos, who bought the document for $99,000 at auction last summer.

But he doesn't have it yet. Maine officials reclaimed it after the sale. The case is currently in state court.

Mr. Klos, a Pennsylvania collector of Revolutionary War documents and artifacts, has put together an exhibit that is touring the US. He wanted the copy of the Declaration of Independence as its centerpiece.

"Many of these historic documents that are found are put away so people are not able to enjoy them," he says. "The great thing about this exhibit is you don't have to come back east to see them."

The fact that the federal government and states didn't maintain records in any official manner for many years is a major problem, historians say. The National Archives wasn't created until 1934.

"There weren't the kind of state archives and museums that exist today," says Mr. Kaller. "All of the great museum collections were started as private collections, including the Library of Congress" - originally Thomas Jefferson's private collection.

There is always plenty of interest when early copies are found.

"Every so often a copy turns up somewhere, and each one has its own history as to how it wound up in private hands," says Milton Gustafson, a senior archivist at the National Archives in College Park, Md.

Such was the case with the 16th Dunlap copy. It was discovered on the dusty shelves of Leary's Book Store in Philadelphia in 1968, and became the first copy ever auctioned. Two Texas businessmen bought it for $404,000 and gave it to the city of Dallas. Permanently on display at the Dallas Public Library, it is the only copy of the Declaration of Independence west of the Mississippi.

The 25th Dunlap copy that sold last week was discovered in 1989, tucked into the back of a tattered painting that was sold for $4 at a flea market in Adamstown, Pa. The amateur collector sold it at auction in 1991 for a record $2.42 million.

Mr. Lear, one of the new owners, said he plans to send it around the country in a "theatrical event that will be unashamedly patriotic."

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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