Reference no: EM131031901

A man went into a small country store when visiting a small town in New Hampshire. In the store, there was a barrel filled with items labeled as “old maps” for $10 each. After looking through the maps, he noticed a very old document similar in size to the maps. The document appeared to be a copy of the Declaration of Independence. He rerolled the document inside the two other maps, and paid $30 for the documents.

When he got home, he took the document to a professor who identified it as an authentic copy of the Declaration of Independence that was presented to one of the state capitals with signatures. A signature of John Hancock alone might be worth $25,000.00. Most of the state copies of the Declaration were lost or destroyed over time so this copy could be extremely valuable.

If the owner of the store learns that the document he purchased from the store sold for thousands of dollars, could the store owner claim fraud or mistake, and seek to have the sale overturned? Provide rationale for your answer.