NEW YORK CITY — Sotheby’s January 24 sale of Fine Manuscripts and Printed Americana was led by the only known privately held copy of the celebrated William J. Stone facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, for which provenance can be traced back to a direct ancestor who received it in 1824. The historical printing sold for $975,000 ($600/800,000) and was acquired by David Rubenstein, to be loaned to a Washington, DC, institution. The sale totaled $4.5 million. See a future issue for an expanded review of the sale.