King’s Watermark Spotted on 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C.—According to a report in The Guardian, Ian Christie-Miller, a former visiting research fellow at London University, examined a first draft of slaveowner George Mason’s 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights with infrared imaging and found a watermark showing the Hanover crown and the emblem of King George III. “It is ironic that paper bearing the arms of the king was used by George Mason for his first draft declaration, which was to lead to the overthrow of English power in the American colonies,” Christie-Miller said. The document, now held in a secure vault in the Library of Congress, may have been stamped with the watermark in order to be compliant with the British Parliament’s Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed certain papers, documents, and playing cards in the colonies. “I wonder, if Mason had had a choice and there had been some alternative supply of paper, whether he would still have chosen stamped paper, so as to make a point of complying with the law, even though he didn’t agree with it,” commented Peter Thompson of Oxford University. To read about a rare King George III gold guinea from 1776 that was found during a survey of Red Bank Battlefield Park, go to "Around the World: New Jersey."