Pennsylvania Historical Memorabilia

38 star antique American parade flag with scattered star orientation, made of silk, with generous scale and vivid colors, Colorado Statehood, 1876-1889 38 star American national p...

Elaborate sailor’s souvenir embroidery from the orient with a beautiful hand-painted image of Washington crossing the Delaware, surrounded by a large eagle, federal shield, crossed flags, a cannon, cannonballs, and anchor, circa 1885-1910: Between roughly 1880 and 1915, American sailors visiting the orient could obtain beautiful needlework embroideries on shore, with patriotic American themes. These extraordinary works of art were acquired as mementos of a long voyage, often with the hope that they might be presented as gifts for loved ones and friends. Using silk floss, elaborately embellished with both silver and gold metallic bullion thread...

ENTIRELY HAND-SEWN, 32-FOOT, SHIP’S COMMISSION PENNANT OF THE 1845-1865 ERA, A HOMEMADE, COTTON EXAMPLE, WITH 13 STARS ON A CORNFLOWER BLUE CANTON, IN A BEAUTIFUL STATE OF PRESERVATION Commission pennants are the distinguishing mark of a commissioned U.S. Navy ship. A ship becomes commissioned when the pennant is hoisted. Flown during both times of peace and war, the only time it is not flown is if a flag officer or civilian official is aboard and replaces it with their own flag. Flown at the topmast, this would be the first thing one would see coming over the horizon and identified the vessel as a warship. Sometimes the owners of private ships mimicked the use of Navy signals. Some seafaring men would have served in the Navy and become privy to various practices in that capacity. Others flew them purely for stylistic reasons, either on a regular basis or while the boat was dressed for special occasion. Hudson River steamers regularly flew pennants of this nature, as evidenced by period photography as well as the paintings of artists such as John and James Bard...

48 crocheted stars on a very graphic, three-dimensional flag made from silk ribbon and crocheted rings, WWI Era (U.S. involvement 1917-18) Homemade, ha...

Rare & Beautiful American Parade Flag With Images Of Teddy Roosevelt And His Great White Fleet, 1907-1909, Ex-richard Pierce Collection: 46 star parade ...

Antique American Flag With 36 Stars On A Cornflower Blue Canton, Civil War Era, 1864-1867, Reflects The Addition Of Nevada As The 36th State; A Great Folk Exaple With Haphazard Rows Of Starfish-like Stars: 36 star American national flag of the Civil War era with outstanding collector traits. Haphazard rows of fat, starfish-shaped stars fill most of the confines of a brilliant, cornflower blue canton. Note the crude piecing of the thirteen, red and white stripes, joined in an ill-planned manner that results in great variation in width, as well as general irregularity. The 4th red stripe actually falls slightly below the canton, and the height of each does not line up with the corresponding stripe on the reverse. This can clearly be seen at the fly end, which is is turned back and bound to repair obvious extended use in an outdoor environment. Clearly the maker lacked experience in seam work. Lining up the necessary components, so that they could be viewed on both sides, presented a challenge they may have not previously faced. This is also evident in the sewing of the stars, which do not line up on the obverse and reverse sides, as they typically would in a flag sewn by an experienced flag-maker. That said, this is just this kind of homemade charm that fuels interest in early American flags...

Indiana State Flag With Square-like Proportions, An Offset Device, And Gold Fringe, Circa 1930-1955: Despite the fact that most of the United States joined the Union during the 18...

32 STARS IN A VERY UNUSUAL NOTCHED VERSION OF THE “GREAT STAR” PATTERN, WITH TWO STARS ABSENT AT THE EXTREME POINTS OF EACH ARM, MADE IN THE PERIOD WHEN MINNESOTA JOINED THE UNION AS...

IRONSTONE PLATE WITH "VOTES FOR WOMEN" TEXT, MADE JOHN MADDOCK & SONS FOR SUFFRAGIST ALVA BELMONT FOR MARBLE HOUSE, HER FAMOUS ESTATE IN NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, CIRCA 1914: Porcelain objects related to the Suffrage movement are extremely scarce. The most celebrated of all American suffrage dinnerware consists of a service of white ironstone, commissioned by Alva Belmont,* prominent Newport, Rhode Island, socialite. Belmont was the founder of a pro-suffrage group called the Political Equality Association. According to Suffrage memorabilia expert Ken Folley, "There are at least eight different examples known in this design, including a cup and saucer, a lunch or dinner plate, a salad or bread plate, a berry bowl, a soup bowl, a celery dish...

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...

EXTREMELY RARE U.S. WAR DEPARTMENT COMMISSIONING PENNANT WITH 13 STARS, A REVERSAL OF THE U.S. NAVY COLOR SCHEME, TWENTY-FOUR FEET ON THE FLY, SP...

EXTRAORDINARILY EARLY (1806) PRINTED LINEN KERCHIEF GLORIFYING GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRINT WORKS, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA Printed in blue ink on coarse, white linen, this patriotic kerchief shows a standing portrait of George Washington, above which is a swag valance and the words “The Effect of Principle, Behold the Man”. The portrait is based on a mezzotint after Gilbert Stuart’s very famous painting of Washington in his later years, most often referred to as the Landsdowne portrait. Stuart painted three versions of it in oil on canvas, one of which was completed in 1796 for a wealthy merchant by the name of William Constable, who commissioned the work for Alexander Hamilton. The kerchief is interesting because it is both American-made and documented. This is exceptionally unusual for any printed textile of the 19th century or prior and the earlier the time period the more unlikely an object is to be identified. This kerchief and a companion piece entitled “The Love of Truth Mark the Boy” (also glorifying Washington, through the fabled story of the cherry tree), were made circa 1806 by Germantown Print Works in Germantown, Pennsylvania. To the left of Washington's image is a portion of his infamous farewell address to his troops at the end of the Revolutionary War. To the right is a short excerpt from his eulogy. Below these are three images. In the center is a square-rigged tall ship with “Commercial Union” above it, flanked by the American eagle on the left and the British lion on the right. It is reasonable to assume that the textile may have been produced in demonstration of the maker's desire, and/or that of others, to advance trade with England. Commercial printers were very influential in early America, as they possessed the means by which to disseminate information. This kerchief and its companion piece are documented in Threads of History, Americana Recorded on Cloth, 1775 - the Present, by Herbert Ridgeway Collins (1979, Smithsonian Press), p. 63, items 38 & 39.* The two pieces pictured are in the collection of Cornell University, but the Collins text also cites an uncut pair to be present in the collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH. The name "Germantown Print Works" is printed on the Western Reserve examples. Another example of the textile in question is documented in "Running for President, The Candidates and Their Images, 1789-1896" by Schlesinger, Israel, and Frendt, (1994, Simon & Schuster), p. 15. I have seen three different color variations of this textile, including sepia, mulberry red, and blue. This particular example has a hand-sewn binding along the top, lower, and left edges. Mounting: The textile was mounted and framed within our own conservation department, which is led by expert staff. We take great care in the mounting and preservation of flags and have framed thousands of examples. The gilded molding has a rippled profile and dates to the period between 1825 and 1850.The background is 100% cotton twill, black in color. The glazing is U.V. protective plexiglass. Feel free to contact us for more details. Condition: There is an all-over golden oxidation of the white fabric and there is very minor staining. There are tiny tack holes in each corner and there are minor nicks around the perimeter. * Collins relates that Germantown Printworks was operated by the Hewsons. In doing so he cites one of Worthington Chauncey Ford's books on George Washington, but it isn't clear which one (there are many) and no page numbers are given. John Hewson was an Englishman who came to America and opened his printing business on the advice of Benjamin Franklin. He was one of the first “calico printers” and is the earliest documented to have advertised printed kerchiefs. His ads for bandanas appear as early as June 20th, 1774. He is suspected of having produced the very first American kerchief that pictured an American president, which is documented in Collins as item 1 on page 48. Linda Eaton, curator at Winterthur, in 2012, is currently doing in depth research on the three printers of fabrics that were operating in Germantown in early America. She discovered that the owner and/or operator of Germantown Print Works, while not currently known, was not John Hewson. This information is not yet published. She also noted that Winterthur possessed examples of the two George Washington textiles...

MASSIVE & COLORFUL CIVIL WAR RECRUITMENT BROADSIDE FOR THE "MANHATTAN RIFLES,” WHICH MUSTERED INTO 43RD AND THE 57TH NEW YORK INFANTRY DIVISIONS ...

“THE MAN WITH A HEART, THE PARTY WITH A SOUL”: FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT POSTER, MADE FOR HIS 1936 PRESIDENTIAL RUN, THE BEST OF ALL KNOWN EXAMPLES ACROS...

38 WHIMSICAL STARS, WITH 6-POINTED PROFILES, SIMILAR TO THE STAR OF DAVID, ON AN ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG OF THE CENTENNIAL ERA; A REMARKABLE SPECIMEN, ONE-OF-A-KIND AMONG KNOWN EXAMPLE...

34 STARS IN AN OUTSTANDING OVAL MEDALLION CONFIGURATION, ON A NARROW CANTON THAT RESTS ON THE 6TH STRIPE, ON A HOMEMADE, ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG OF THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, ENTIRELY HAND-...

HAND-PAINTED 19TH CENTURY BANNER WITH AN 1867 VERSION OF THE SEAL OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, PROPOSED IN THAT YEAR BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE, BUT IN A VARIATION NEVER FORMALLY ADOPTED Banner with the Illinois State Seal, in a rare variation of the design, never adopted. In 1867 Illinois Secretary of State Sharon Tyndale proposed that the phrases in the state motto be reversed. In the wake of the Civil War, (which ended in 1865,) Tyndale suggested that the verbiage be changed from "State Sovereignty--National Union" to "National Union--State Sovereignty,” which made sense given the recent secession of the Southern States, which placed their own interests first. Illinois' own Abraham Lincoln had worked hard to preserve national interests, echoed here in the altering of the language. Though Tyndale’s suggestion was rejected, he was nonetheless charged with creating a new design, which he did and was soon adopted. This displayed the dates of "1818," when Illinois became a state, and "1868," when the seal was officially changed. Interestingly enough, Tyndale did manage to send a message in the new version by turning the word “sovereignty” upside-down , with the surmised explanation that this fit accordingly with the orientation / position of the streamer. The banner is beautifully hand-painted on muslin and retains its original staff. The shape is beautifully scalloped at the bottom edge, which is painted to look as if there is an applied fringe. Most of the elements are congruent with the 1868 version, but there are various differences. Set within a shield-shaped medallion—usually circular—is the expected eagle in a side view, spread wing pose with beak uplifted. The eagle is supposed to be perched upon a rock with one talon, while gripping a Federal shield in the other. Here there is no rock and both talons grip the shield, which displays 13 stars. Note the date of "1867" and Tyndale's preferred order of the wording on the billowing ribbon in the eagle's beak. The foreground of the official design is all grass. Here there are olive branches—a peacetime reference appropriate for a country recovering from war—on a grassy area, set upon a sandy shore before Lake Michigan, with a rising sun on the horizon. Mounting: The banner was mounted and framed within our own conservation department, which is led by masters degree trained staff. We take great care in the mounting and presentation of flags and have preserved thousands of examples; more than anyone worldwide. The background is 100% cotton twill, black in color. The mount was placed in a black-painted, hand-gilded and distressed Italian molding. A shadowbox was created to accommodate the staff. The glazing is U.V. protective plexiglass. Feel free to contact us for more details. Banner - 49" x 56.5" Frame - 67.75" x 59.25" About Jeff R. Bridgman Antiques, Inc.: As an advisor to top museums and collectors alike, Jeff Bridgman is the world's leading expert and source for antique American flags and political textiles...

HAND-PAINTED PATRIOTIC BANNER WITH THE SEAL OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS AND GREAT FOLK QUALITIES PROBABLY MADE FOR THE 1868 DEMOCRAT NATIONAL CONVENTION...

HAND-PAINTED PATRIOTIC BANNER WITH THE SEAL OF THE STATE OF OREGON AND GREAT FOLK QUALITIES, 1861-1876: Swallowtail format, patriotic vertical banne...