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1880s Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

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Period: 1880s
Color:  Beige
1889 North Dakota 39 Star United States of America Statehood Flag
Located in Coeur d'Alene, ID
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...
Category

American Antique 1880s Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

Materials

Silk

41-Star Printed Flag Waver, Celebrating Montana Statehood, 1889
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
Presented is a very rare, 41-star flag waver celebrating Montana statehood. The flag is printed on linen and dates to 1889. The dark blue canton is printed with forty one stars in nine rows of alternating counts of five and four stars. Thirteen red and white stripes complete the flag’s design. The history of Montana statehood is a long one. Numerous Native American tribes originally inhabited the Montana Territory. Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the members of their expedition were the first explorers to document a journey through Montana and the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. Soon, forts were established to facilitate regular fur trading with Native American tribes. Missionaries and trailblazers followed. The discovery of gold in the early 1860s sped the creation of the Montana Territory. As settlers and gold prospectors entered Montana in the 1860s and 1870s, conflicts with the Native Americans arose. Perhaps the most famous clash between Native Americans and the United States military occurred in Montana on June 25, 1876. On that day, Sioux and Cheyenne defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer‘s 7th United States Cavalry regiment at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. A year later, Nez Percé Chief Joseph surrendered in the Bear Paw Mountains of Montana. Lured by copper in the 1880s, mining brought even more settlers to Montana. Rich grazing lands for cattle and sheep attracted other pioneers. Each of the states in America, with the exception of the original thirteen, Texas, and California, was first organized as a territory before achieving admittance to the Union as a state. Originating with the Ordinances of 1785 and 1787, the territorial system provided the expanding U.S. with a method to govern frontier areas until they gained sufficient population and economic maturity to qualify for statehood. Not surprisingly, residents of frontier territories usually demanded quick admission to statehood so they could gain full control of their local governments. Montana was a territory for 25 years – from the creation of Montana Territory in 1864 until the territory was admitted to statehood in 1889. On November 2, 1889, North and South Dakota were added to the Union as the 39th and 40th states, the first time in history that two states were admitted on the same day. Montana became the 41st state on November 8, predating Washington, the 42nd state, by only three days. Flag makers were not in the business of making out-of-date flags. As a result of these rapid changes in the number of states, only a small number of 41-star flags or commemorative items were ever produced, thereby making any 41-star flag exceedingly rare. CONDITION: Good condition. This flag is printed, with a hemmed headband and fly end in a running stitch...
Category

American Antique 1880s Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

Materials

Linen

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Antique 46 Star WMH Horstmann Company United States of America Flag 83"
By Horstmann
Located in Dayton, OH
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He devised several improvements in this trade, especially by introducing varieties in the styles and patterns of this class of goods, there being at that time only two patterns used in the trade, which were known as the Jefferson pattern and the Monroe pattern. In 1824, he introduced into this country from Germany the use of plaiting or braiding machines, and about the same time he was the first to introduce into this country the use of the Jacquard loom, for weaving patterns in textile fabrics. His location was in the first instance at No. 50 North Third street, but within a short time he removed to a store next to the Harp and Crown tavern, afterwards known as the City hotel, and continued his business within a short distance of this point for many years. In 1828, he commenced the manufacture of military trimmings as a special department, and this branch has grown to most important proportions, Horstmann's military goods being in demand throughout time country. The firm have also executed large Government contracts in this line for the War and Navy Departments. In 1831, he established a branch house in New York city, and about the same time erected a factory at the corner of Germantown road and Columbia avenue. The factory was continued here until time erection of the extensive building at Fifth and Cherry streets, where the works, salesrooms and offices of time firm now are. This massive structure is six stories high, and extends 140 feet on Fifth street and 200 on Cherry street, and reaches back to Race street. The separate departments into which the business is divided are thirty in number. More than 1000 distinct looms and machines are in use in the building, many of them very costly and some invented and used exclusively by this firm, the motive power being supplied by a steam engine of fifty horse power. The area covered by the works is about 11,000 square feet. Time number of hands employed is very large, about 500. When the erection of a vast factory at this point was first proposed, a strong opposition was made by time holders of the neighboring property. The ancient German Lutheran Church and burying ground, since removed, stood opposite the site, and a bill was introduced into the Legislature to forbid the use of a steam engine within 100 yards of any place of worship. The interests which such a bill would have affected injuriously, especially those of several newspapers, roused a strong opposition to it, and it failed to become a law. In 1845, William H. Horstmann, the founder of the house, retired from the business, and his two sons, William and Sigmund, assumed the management and it was under their direction that the new building, above described, was erected. The goods produced by this house are of almost endless extent and variety. 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The cord to be covered with braid is drawn through an opening in time middle of a flat, circular, metallic plate, about 15 inches across. Up to a point on this cord, about a foot above the plate, the threads of the braiding material converge, like the ribs of a tent-roof, and there weave in and out and out and in, as the coating of braid grows, and time covered cord rises and is wound away above. The weaving is accomplished by the motion of the spools below that carry the different threads of the braid. These spools stand in uprights, which are carried round and amongst each other in curved slots in the above-mentioned broad metallic plate. All but two of these spools run in and out among each other, with a swift, easy and intricate motion, mind so rapid that time eye can hardly follow it, while one or two special spools run steadily round and round among time twisting spools with the most extreme swiftness. 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Previously Available Items
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American 39 Star Flag, circa 1889
American 39 Star Flag, circa 1889
H 18.25 in W 22.5 in D 1 in
Chippewa or Winnebago, Native American, Beaded, Bandolier Bag, circa 1880
Located in York County, PA
BEADED, NATIVE AMERICAN BANDOLIER BAG, WITH GEOMETRIC AND FLORAL PATTERNS, CHIPPEWA OR WINNEBAGO INDIAN NATION, circa 1880: Beaded, native American, bandolier bag, made ca 1880. The layout and designs utilized I would attribute as being of Chippewa / Ojibwe origin, or Winnebago / Ho-Chunk. The regions in which these native American peoples lived overlapped some, with the Chippewa ranging from what became North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, extending into Canada, and the Winnebago residing in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, but extending into what would become Iowa and Nebraska. Both utilized similar step-down geometric designs, terminating in stylized arrow fletching, plus elongated, eight-pointed, Lemoyne stars, and a similar layout of panels, sometimes with open floral work in the upper register, similar to what is present here, and geometric borders that utilized a single color of beads. I presume that the work of one tribe probably influenced the other. Because the Winnebago were nearly wiped out by small pox in the mid-18th century, and then again in the 1830's, I think that the origin is more likely Chippewa. Regrowth of the Winnebago people over time came from intermarriage with neighboring tribes, which would certainly account for similarities in beadwork on bandolier bags. There is also some overlap in the designs used by the Potawatomi, who actually gave the Ho-Chunks the name "Winnebago," and whose range overlapped in present-day Wisconsin, also encompassing regions of what would become Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and parts of Canada. There would have certainly been intermarriage between the Chippewa and Potawatomi, whose range had even greater overlap. Bandolier bags are large, heavily beaded pouches with a slit at the top. They have a beaded strap worn diagonally over the shoulder, thus resting the bag at hip level. The design is created using glass beads, a European trade good that replaced the traditional porcupine quills. The bags themselves are typically constructed from trade cloth, such as cotton, wool, velvet, or leather. This particular example is made primarily of tan wool broadcloth, a terrific printed cotton fabric of the 1860-1870 era, black with geometric design stripes, and decorated with dynamic red, blue, black and gold geometric beadwork on a white beadwork ground. Woodlands floral designs adorn the upper register, above the mouth of the bag, in two shades of blue. The bag is trimmed with green wool or cotton tape and broad red wool herringbone tape, a fringe made of knotted blue and green wool yarn. This is a very desirable example because of its beauty and its early fabrics, most of which pre-date the bag by 10-20 years and were undoubtedly acquired by trade with various parties. The Great Lakes Native American beaded bandolier bag...
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American Antique 1880s Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

Materials

Beads

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