48-Star American Naval Jack Flag

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...

This is a striking 38-star American flag. The flag dates to 1876-1890, when Colorado (represented by the large star in the center of the flag’s canton) joined the Union as the 38th s...

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...

Presented is a rare Centennial patriotic flag banner, dating to 1876. The flag’s brilliant blue canton is spectacular, with 81 five-pointed, rayed stars, arranged to read “1776” and “1876.” The flag’s design is completed with thirteen alternating red and white stripes. The flag is a three-piece, treadle-sewn sewn construction, printed on a thin wool and cotton blend. Along the edge, there is a narrow, treadle-sewn sleeve made of cotton tape. In the lead up to the nation’s Centennial in 1876, flag makers and individuals looked to the past for designs to produce as part of the country’s many celebrations. Popular interpretation of the stars and stripes undoubtedly reached its climax of variety and originality at the time of our Nation’s first Centennial. Since no design restrictions were placed on flagmaker’s imaginations and no strict distinctions were drawn between official and unofficial star counts, it is no surprise that, on the occasion of the Centennial, creativity in flag design was not the exception, but the rule. The cantons from this period presented an array of geometric abstractions. Great star patterns, referred to as the “starry flower of Liberty” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, that were popular from 1818 and on, resurfaced in Centennial flags...

34 STARS IN A WHIMSICAL RENDITION OF THE GREAT STAR PATTERN, ON A CIVIL WAR PERIOD FLAG WITH A CORNFLOWER BLUE CANTON, UPDATED TO 39 STARS IN 1876 34 star American national flag with additional stars added and one of the most stunning graphic designs I have ever seen in early flag-making. The original pattern was comprised of a circle of 5 large stars, and triangular arms made of smaller stars. These are noticeable pointy and bent like the arms of a starfish. Made of cotton, the stars are hand-sewn and double-appliquéd to a fantastic, cornflower blue canton, a color common to Civil War uniforms...

13 STAR ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG WITH HAND-SEWN STARS IN AN EXTREMELY NARROW PRESENTATION OF A 3-2-3-2-3 ARRANGEMENT ON A CANTON THAT DOESN’T FOLLOW SUIT, LEAVING WIDE EXPANSES OF BLUE ...

19th Century American 39 Star Flag, circa 1889, a period printed silk parade flag with a wavy pattern of dancing stars. This was never an official flag of the United States but was m...

HOMEMADE, ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG WITH A TINY CANTON RESTING ON THE 6TH STRIPE AND AN EXTREMELY FOLKY PRESENTATION OF 45 STARS IN A “NOTCHED” PATTERN THAT MIGHT BE UNIQUE TO THIS EXAMP...