AUGUSTA – A Pittsburgh businessman and a New York manuscript dealer who bid $99,000 for a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence have given up their fight to keep the document, the state announced Thursday.

The auction buyers agreed to turn over possession of the document to the town of North Yarmouth after new information about the chain of ownership surfaced during a legal battle, said James Henderson, state archivist.

Under the agreement, the auction buyers will be allowed to put the document on display for a “modest” period of time, Henderson said.

The amicable conclusion leaves untested in the courts a 1989 Maine law which presumes that public documents remain public property unless ownership is expressly relinquished by the government, Henderson said.

“I suspect something like this will happen again,” Henderson said, noting concerns about whether the law can be applied retroactively.

Henderson said he was grateful that all parties were able to set aside their differences and objectively examine the background of the document.

The document was one of the copies of the original Declaration of Independence that were sent to the 13 colonies and to churches to get the word out in 1776. At the time, Maine was part of the state of Massachusetts.

The poster-sized document was discovered by auctioneer Kaja Veilleux during preparations for an estate sale at the home of Nellie Leighton, North Yarmouth’s volunteer historian, who died in May 1999.

Veilleux sold the document at auction about a month later. It would have been jointly owned by Pittsburgh businessman Stan Klos’ Gallery of Fame Inc. and Kaller’s America Gallery Inc. in New York.

The document, which was addressed to Pastor Gillman in North Yarmouth, is believed to be one of a handful of broadside copies issued by E. Russell Printers of Salem, Mass. “No. 16” is stamped on the back.

The auction buyers contended the document was discarded by the town. But research determined that it likely remained part of the public record for years, although it was unclear how Leighton came upon it.

Kaller and Klos said they were eager to challenge Maine’s law because it applies to documents regardless of their age. But they decided the responsible thing to do was to drop their battle based on the new information.

“In the final analysis … our primary goal is to preserve America’s historic documents, whether in public or in private hands,” Seth Kaller of Kaller’s American Gallery said in a statement.

The agreement to let the document leave Maine to go on display was an attempt to address Kaller’s and Klos’ complaints that the document would be hidden away from the public in the state archives, Henderson said.

The document was kept in a safety deposit box during the legal dispute. Under the agreement, the state archivist will assist in restoring the document, which will become property of North Yarmouth by May 1.