PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — They didn't know what they had at first.
As the nation geared up to celebrate its 245th birthday, the American Philosophical Society in Old City discovered a rare, authentic copy of the Declaration of Independence in its archives.
"First we thought we had this thing, then we thought we had this other thing and then we thought, 'Oh, it's just a piece of Victoriana, it's nothing really that valuable.'" said Anne Downey, the society's head of conservation.
Downey was performing conservation treatment on what was thought to be a heavily varnished print of the Declaration of Independence. It turned out not to be a facsimile but an authentic engraving by William J. Stone, created about 200 years ago.
"When I first thought that it was something more exciting than a than a cheap piece of paper, I was so excited. I was jumping up and down. It's the discovery of a lifetime," she said.
There is a lot of restoration work left to do. Downey said it won't be ready for display for about five years.
"At one point in this poor thing's life, somebody decided we need to make to make this look like a painting," she explained.
"So they attached it to a piece of fabric. They wrapped the fabric around a wooden stretcher and they varnished the heck out of it and stuck it into a frame while it was still wet because we have some pigment marks from the frame, so it was hanging on someone's wall for a while as a painting."
Downey said this is the eighth copy known to still exist.