34 STAR AMERICAN FLAG, CIVIL WAR, 1861-63, KANSAS STATEHOOD, 2nd KY CAVALRY

34 STARS IN 4 ROWS WITH 2 STARS OFFSET AT THE HOIST END, ON AN ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG LIKELY PRODUCED FOR MILITARY FUNCTION, AS UNION ARMY CAMP COLORS; ONE OF JUST A TINY HANDFUL THAT I HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN THIS EXACT STYLE, REFLECTS KANSAS STATEHOOD, OPENING TWO YEARS OF THE CIVIL WAR...

34 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG OF THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD (1861-63), WITH WOVEN STRIPES, PRESS-DYED STARS, AND BEAUTIFUL COLORS, POSSIBLY MADE IN NEW YORK BY THE ANNIN COMPANY, REFLECTS THE ADDITION OF KANSAS TO THE UNION, 1861-1863 34 star flag of the Civil War period, with a press-dyed canton and woven stripes. Made of a fabric produced frame a combination of wool and cotton fibers, the 34 star count was achieved in an unusual fashion, beginning with a press-dyed field of 32 star...

34 STARS IN A MEDALLION CONFIGURATION ON AN ANTIQUE AMERICAN PARADE FLAG WITH A LARGE, HALOED CENTER STAR; CIVIL WAR PERIOD, KANSAS STATEHOOD, 1861-1863 34 star American national pa...

34 STARS WITH "DANCING" OR "TUMBLING" ORIENTATION, ON AN ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG WITH EXTRAORDINARY COLORS, PRESS-DYED ON WOOL BUNTING, LIKELY PRODUCED FOR USE AS MILITARY CAMP COLORS,...

36 Stars In The "Great Star" Or "Great Luminary" Pattern On A Civil War Era Flag With A Dusty Blue Canton And A Section Of One Stripe Souvenired, 1864-67, Nevada Statehood 36 star American national flag of the Civil War era, entirely hand-sewn and with some rare and beautiful features. The stars are arranged in a rendition of what is known as the Great Star or Great Luminary configuration, a large star made out of smaller stars. With no official star pattern before 1912, their design was left up to the artistic liberties of the flag-maker. Strikingly visual, the Great Star is both scarce and coveted by collectors. The 36th state, Nevada, entered the Union during the Civil War on October 31st, 1864. The last Confederate general surrendered on May 26th, 1865. The 36 star flag became official on July 4th of that year, but makers of printed flags would have begun adding a 36th star to their flags in 1864, even before the addition of the new state occurred. Lincoln pushed Nevada through just 8 days before the November election. Nevada’s wealth in silver was attractive to a nation struggling with the debts of war and increased support for the Republican ticket. The 36 star flag was replaced by the 37 star flag in 1867, with the addition of Nebraska. Adding to the flag's appeal is its small scale across those with of piece-and-sewn construction. During the 19th century, sewn flags (as opposed to those that were printed on cloth) were typically eight feet long and larger. This is because they were important in their function as signals, meaning that they needed to be seen and recognized from great distance. A flag that was six feet in length was considered small and production of flags smaller than this was extremely limited. Even infantry battle flags were approximately six by six and-one-half feet, about the size of an average quilt of the same period. As time passed, circumstances changed and sewn flags began to find more of a decorative purpose. Smaller flags are more scarce and far easier to frame and display. The Great Star configuration appears to have come about shortly after the War of 1812, when Congressman Peter Wendover of New York requested that Captain Samuel Reid, a War of 1812 naval hero, create a new design that would become the third official format of the Stars & Stripes. A recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Reid became harbor master of New York following the war. During his lifetime, he created many innovations in signal use, including a system that could actually send messages from New York to New Orleans by sea in just two hours. Use as a Naval signal had been the primary reason for the initial creation of an American national flag in 1777, but since there was no official star design, the appearance of our flag varied greatly. Reid’s primary concern centered on both consistency and ease of recognition. His hope was as more and more states joined the Union and more and more stars were added to the flag, that it would remain easily identified on the open seas. In 1818, Reid suggested to Congress that the number of stripes permanently return to 13 (reduced from 15) and that the stars be grouped into the shape of one large star. Reid’s proposal would have kept the star constellation in roughly the same format, in a pattern that could be quickly identified through a spyglass as the number of states grew. His concept for the stripes was ultimately accepted, but his advice on the star pattern was rejected by President James Monroe, due to the increased cost of arranging the stars in what would become known as the “Great Star”, “Great Flower”, or “Great Luminary” pattern. Monroe probably didn’t wish to impose this cost on either the government or civilians, so he suggested a simple pattern of justified rows. Never-the-less, the Great Star was produced by anyone willing to make it and its rarity today, along with its beauty, has driven the desirability of American flags with this configuration. The canton and stripes of the flag are made of fine merino wool. Note how the canton has faded to a dusty seafoam blue, which is endearingly attractive. The stars of the flag are hand-sewn and single-appliquéd. This means that they were applied to one side of the canton, then the blue fabric was cut from behind each star, folded over, and under-hemmed, so that one star could be viewed on both sides of the flag. I always find single-appliquéd stars more interesting, not only because they are evidence of a more difficult level of seam-work and stitching, but also because they are more visually intriguing. The two visible rows of hand-stitching emphasize their hand-sewn construction, which is one reason why flags with single-appliquéd stars often appeal to connoisseurs of early American textiles...

34 Upside-down, Hand-sewn Stars In A Notched Configuration, On An Antique American Flag Of The Civil War Period, With A Beautiful And Highly Unusual Jacquard Weave Binding, And In A Tiny Scale Among Its Counterparts, Reflects The Addition Of Kansas As The 34th State, 1861-1863 34 star American national flag with a number of interesting and desirable features. Chief among these is the scale of the flag among counterparts of the period. At just three by four feet, its size is absolutely tiny among those with pieced-and-sewn construction. During the 19th century, sewn flags (as opposed to those that were printed on cloth) were typically eight feet long and larger. This is because they were important in their function as signals, meaning that they needed to be seen and recognized from great distance. A flag that was six feet in length was considered small and production of flags smaller than this was extremely limited. Even infantry battle flags, carried on foot, were approximately six by six and-one-half feet, about the size of an average quilt of the same period. It wasn't until the 1890’s that manufacturers began to produce smaller sewn flags in great quantity. The stars of the flag are arranged in justified lineal rows, the first of which contains one fewer star. This results in what I call a “notched” design, leaving one space open for the addition of another star. The blank space leaves little doubt that the maker of the flag assumed that another Western Territory would soon acquire statehood, or that West Virginia might soon break free from Virginia, which occurred in June of 1863. Note how the stars are oriented so that they are upside-down on their vertical axis, with two points up instead of one. No one knows if this positioning bore any particular meaning. Both modern notions of the correct orientation of a star, and the present official design of the American flag, dictate that the stars are supposed to have one point up. Since there was no official design for the flag until 1912, however, it may simply be that the maker of the flag did not consider any particular position to be right-side-up or upside-down. In the mid-19th century, it was not uncommon to see stars pointing any which way, varied throughout whatever arrangement was chosen. Whatever the case may be, the feature present on this particular flag is unusual to the eye and notable in terms of its presentation. Made of cotton, the stars are hand-sewn and double-appliquéd (applied to both sides). The canton and stripes of the flag are made of wool bunting. Because blue wool bunting generally came in a width of 18", the canton was pieced from two lengths of fabric, joined by hand-stitching. The canton is joined to the striped field by hand-stitching. The stripes are pieced and hemmed by treadle stitching. Made of heavy, polished, jacquard weave linen, the binding of the flag is both exceptional from a textile connoisseur’s perspective and highly unusual. This is joined to the flag by treadle stitching. There are two brass grommets, one each at the top and bottom of the hoist, which are likewise especially unusual, in that they are both heavier than normal and intentionally hammered flat. I have seen this on only one other occasion in a Civil War flag...

The stars of this extremely rare, Civil War-era flag are arranged in what is sometimes called the "Great Flower" pattern, a large star made out of smaller stars -- named as such beca...

This is a rare 31-star medallion printed American flag, celebrating the addition of California to the Union. The flag is printed on silk and has a spectacular “Great Star” canton pat...

39 star silk statehood flag. 23 1/2" x 15". Was the unofficial North Dakota Flag. As South Dakota was also admitted as the 40th state on the same day this...

This is an original 46-Star American parade flag, celebrating Oklahoma statehood. Each star on the flag's canton represents a state in the Union at the time. The official flag design would update every July 4th, to include any new states added to the Union in the past year. Oklahoma, the 46th state, entered the Union on November 16, 1907. As such, this 46–star flag was the official flag of the United States from July 4, 1908, until July 4, 1912. The silk flag has a dark blue canton with 46 white printed stars. The stars are printed in an 7-8-8-8-8-7 row configuration, or “Drum design.” The flag design is completed with 13 alternating red and white stripes, each stripe representing one of the original thirteen colonies. The land that comprises Oklahoma today was added to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Throughout the 19th century, the U.S. government relocated Indian tribes from the southeastern United States to the area, and by 1900, over 30 Indian tribes had been moved to what was originally called the Indian Territories. At the same time, ranchers in Texas began to move into the area in search of new pasture lands. Although stipulations in the Indian Relocation Act agreed that the land would forever be Indian Territory, the promise of fertile farmland trumped the government’s promise of sovereignty. On April 22, 1889, they opened the land to settlement by homesteaders, creating a land run in which settlers, called “Boomers,” were allowed to cross the Texas or Arkansas border at a particular hour to claim homesteads. Settlers who illegally crossed the border earlier to stake prime land were called “sooners,” which eventually became the state’s nickname. Wagons and the Santa Fe railroad carried cartloads of men and women to blank town sites and building plots, creating ten thousand-people communities in a matter of days. The following year, the region was further divided into Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory...

This is a 39-star unofficial American flag, handmade and printed on cotton. The flag dates to 1889 and has a unique history, thanks to its rare star-count. The flag’s canton is prin...

This 36-star flag has stars arranged in a gorgeous and highly desirable medallion pattern. This particular medallion includes a large haloed star in the middle, two rings of stars s...