Declaration Copy Sold for $2.4 Million

NEW YORK — A copy of the Declaration of Independence that a flea-market buff found concealed in the frame of an old painting he bought for $4 was auctioned for $2.42 million Thursday.

The document, printed in Philadelphia on the night of July 4, 1776, was bought by an Atlanta fine arts investment company after intense bidding at a Sotheby’s auction of rare books and manuscripts. Donald Scheer, president of Visual Equities Inc., was the high bidder.

“I feel very proud to own this American treasure,” he said. “I think it’s a bargain, given what’s going on in the world today.”

It was not clear whether the seller, a Philadelphia businessman who has not been identified, was at the auction.