Wool Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

13 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG WITH A MEDALLION CONFIGURATION OF STARS; A SMALL-SCALE EXAMPLE, MADE circa 1895-1926 This 13 star antique American flag is of a type made during the la...

38 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG IN A TINY SCALE AMONG THOSE WITH PIECED-AND-SEWN CONSTRUCTION, WITH BEAUTIFUL & UNUSUAL SHADE OF BLUE AND WITH A NOTCHED CONFIGURATION OF STARS THAT LEA...

37 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG, MADE & SIGNED BY THE ANNIN COMPANY IN NEW YORK CITY, ENTIRELY HAND-SEWN AND WITH SINGLE-APPLIQUÉD STARS, IN A SMALL AND VERY DESIRABLE SCALE AMONG THOSE WITH PIECED-AND-SEWN CONSTRUCTION; REFLECTS THE ERA WHEN NEBRASKA WAS THE MOST RECENT STATE TO JOIN THE UNION, 1867-1876 37 star antique American flag with an array of desirable features. Entirely hand-sewn throughout, the flag was made and signed by the Annin Company of New York, our nation’s eldest flag-maker that is still in business today. Nebraska joined the Union as the 37th state on March 1st, 1867, shortly following Lincoln’s death and the close of the Civil War. Per the Third Flag Act of 1818, stars were to be added on Independence Day for any new states that had been added throughout the preceding "flag year." The 37 star flag thus became official on July 4th, 1867 and remained so until July 3rd, 1877. Flag-makers cared little for official star counts. Preferring what made most practical sense, stars were typically added as soon as a new state was in, if not even sometimes even beforehand, in hopeful anticipation. Because Colorado gained statehood on August 1st, 1876, and nearly everyone seems to have presumed it was coming, flag-makers generally produced 38 star flags for the celebration of our nation's 100-year anniversary of independence, that took place in that year. Some flag-makers actually elected to make 39 star flags, adding two stars instead of one, in hopeful anticipation that the Dakota Territory would also gain statehood, though this would not occur for another 13 years, when the Dakotas arrived as two separate states. 13 star flags were also prevalent in the year of our nation's centennial, to reflect the original 13 colonies. Due primarily to the lack of major patriotic events during the period in which they were generally used, the 37 star-count is scarce when compared to the flags that immediately preceded and followed it. The canton and stripes of the flag are made of wool bunting. The stars, arranged in rows of 7-8-7-8-7, are made of cotton and are single-appliquéd. This means that they were applied to one side only, a cut out was made on the reverse and the fabric carefully and expertly under-hemmed, so that one star could be seen on both sides. I always find single-appliquéd stars more desirable, 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 stitching and the manner by which it is accomplished, executed here with two different colors of thread, makes the hand-made element more pronounced. Both the sewing itself and stretching of the fabrics over time result in stars that tend to display more interesting characteristics. That is certainly the case in this instance. Although all of the stars are oriented so that one point is directed upward, note how their profiles vary greatly throughout the arrangement, some bulbous and others skinny, with arms bent this way and that. This adds considerable folk quality to the flag’s presentation. There is a coarse linen binding along the hoist with two brass grommets, one each at the extreme top and bottom. Along this, on the obverse, near the top, a blank-inked stencil reads “XX,” followed by “Annin & Co NY.” Typically, a numeral would be included before double-X, to indicate overall length on the fly in feet, (in this case “5”,) but in this case it was omitted. Few flag-makers signed their material at all in the 19th century, and even those that sometimes did, such as Annin, were horribly inconsistent in their application. Annin is our nation's eldest flag-maker that is still in business today. The company was founded in the 1820's on the New York waterfront, incorporated in 1847, and though it opened a large manufacturing operation in Verona, New Jersey in 1916, maintained its head office and some production in Manhattan until 1960. This is an early Annin mark, of the sort that begins to appear in the mid-1860's. Because the earliest American national flags that I have identified with the full star count (as opposed to having 13 stars or an exclusionary number), that have Annin stencils, appear in the 36 star count (1864-67), this 37 star Annin flag is among the earliest signed examples. Annin had a long history of providing flags of all types to military units and governmental purposes. While some sources that record makers...

13 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG w/ A 3-2-3-2-3 PATTERN OF ESPECIALLY LARGE STARS; A U.S. NAVY SMALL BOAT ENSIGN, SIGNED & DATED 1903, MADE AT THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD IN NEW YORK CITY 1...

13 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG WITH A MEDALLION CONFIGURATION OF STARS; A SMALL-SCALE EXAMPLE, MADE circa 1895-1926 This 13 star antique American flag is of a type made during the last decade of the 19th century through the beginning of the 20th. The stars are arranged in a medallion configuration that features a single center star, surrounded by a wreath of stars, with a flanking star in each corner of the canton. The canton and stripes of the flag are made of wool bunting that has been pieced with machine stitching. The stars are made of cotton and double-appliquéd (applied to both sides of the flag) with a zigzag machine stitch. There is a twill cotton binding along the hoist with 2 white metal grommets. Along this are two black-inked stencils or stamps that read “Standard.” and “2 x 3,” to indicate in feet. Standard is a name brand of the maker and would have designated the grade of wool bunting, the type of binding, and other factors of the flag’s construction. Why 13 Stars? As the number of stars grew with the addition of new states, it became more and more difficult to fit their full complement on a small flag. The stars would, by necessity, have to become smaller, which made it more and more difficult to view them from a distance as individual objects. The fear was that too many stars would become one white mass and distort the ability to identify American ships on the open seas. The U.S. Navy used 13 stars on its small-scale flags for precisely this reason. This was, of course, the original number of stars on the first American national flag, by way of the First Flag Act of 1777, and equal to the number of original colonies that became states. For all practical purposes, commercial flag-makers simply didn't produce flags with pieced-and-sewn construction that were 3 to 4 feet in length before the 1890's. There are exceptions to this rule, but until this time, the smallest sewn flags were typically 6 feet on the fly. The primary use had long been more utilitarian than decorative, and flags needed to be large to be effective as signals. Private use grew with the passage of time, however, which led to the need for long-term use flags...

Presented is a beautiful 13-star American Flag. This wool flag's canton features the highly sought-after medallion star pattern, with one large central star, encircled by a ring of e...

Presented is a stunning 13-star American parade flag, dating to 1860. The wool flag has 13 hand-sewn cotton stars with truncated tips. The stars are configured in the “Third Maryland” or “Cowpens” pattern, consisting of a 12-star wreath surrounding a large central star. The flag design is completed with 13 red and white alternating stripes and a white cotton hoist. The flag’s hoist has “Lafayette Post 140” stenciled in selvage. The “Third Maryland” star pattern of a 12-star wreath surrounding a central star is associated with an early 13-star flag that was long thought to have been carried by William Batchelor of the 3rd Maryland Regiment at the Battle of Cowpens during the American Revolution. The flag, now in the collection of the Maryland State Archives, was later discovered by Smithosian experts to date to the mid-19th century. But this particular star pattern is forever linked to that particular 13-star flag and the wreath and central star configuration is still referred to as a “Third Maryland” or “Cowpens” style among dealers and collectors. Thirteen star flags with the “Third Maryland” pattern are among the scarcest and most desired by collectors of early American flag...

ABOUT A large Valley Forge American flag made with 48 hand sewn stars and stripes. It is in good condition and has brass grommets to hang. CREATOR Valley Forge. DATE OF MAN...

ABOUT A large wool American flag made with 48 hand sewn stars and stripes. It is in good condition and has brass grommets to hang. CREATOR Unknown. DATE OF MANUFACTURE c.19...

13 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG WITH A 3-2-3-2-3 CONFIGURATION OF STARS ON AN INDIGO CANTON, SQUARISH PROPORTIONS, AND A BEAUTIFUL OVERALL PRESENTATION, MADE circa 1895-1926 This 13 s...

45 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG WITH STAGGERED ROWS OF STARS ON A DUSTY BLUE CANTON; REFLECTS THE PERIOD WHEN UTAH WAS THE MOST RECENT STATE TO JOIN THE UNION, 1890-1896 Utah became t...

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...