United States // 13 star Flag / Single Ring with Center Star
ZFC0609 United States // 13 star Flag / Single Ring with Center Star
This period 13 star flags early history is unknown; but it was formerly part of the acclaimed collection of noted antique dealer Mr. Boleslaw Mastai and his wife Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai, formerly of New York City, and later Amagansett, Long Island. Their collection was the result of fifty years of collecting, research and study by the late husband-wife team. Mastai, started collecting in the early 20th century and amassed to greatest private flag collection in the United States; which he detailed in his landmark book The Stars and The Stripes; The American Flag from Birth of the Republic to the Present, published by Alfred Knopf, New York 1973; and hailed as a revelation of the American Flag as both folk art and as social history.
This is a very rare period 13 star flag. Mastai was very deliberate scholar, and selected this flag as the sole flag for the frontispiece of his aforementioned book. Further, he selected this flag to be featured on the 7 July, 1980 cover of a national news magazine, after having exhibited it at least twice: in 1973 at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth Texas, and in 1978 at Building 6, World Trade Center, New York City.
Contemporary illustrations from the 1780s indicate that the 13 stars of the United States flag were occasionally arranged as a circle of 12 around a single central star. And, while this suggests at this pattern was in the public mind in the 18th century documented flags are quite rare.
Perhaps the most famous flag of this general type is the flag associated with the 3rd Maryland Regiment at the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781; now preserved at the State House in Annapolis. The best documented flag with a single ring of twelve stars with a center star is the Pewterers Banner carried in the Federal Procession on 23 July, 1788, in New York City, and now preserved at the New York Historical Society. Another very almost identical flag, also preserved at the New York Historical Society is Old Porter House Flag; and Sothebys the venerable auction house sold a very similar flag in 1966, having identified it to the Revolutionary period.
There is also preserved at the Easton Public Library, in Easton PA, a unit color of the Northampton County, PA Militia bearing a ring of twelve stars with a center star as the device on its blue field. While contemporary scholarship on the exact dating of this flag, it is identical to a flag depicted in an 18th century painting by James Peale Polk entitled Washington at Princeton now in the collection at the Museum at West Point, New York.
This hand-sewn, wool bunting flag with cotton stars stitched with both linen & cotton thread, and a linen heading is one of only a few known Revolutionary era flags with the stars arranged in a single ring around a center star.
Acquired from Sotheby's Auction in New York City on October 10, 2002. Sotheby's Lot No. 63. Mastai Lot 124. To be framed April 2003.
ZFC # Sothebys # Description/Exhibit-Publication History
(sale 10 Oct. 02
0609 (+1) 63-a, p. 38-2988 13 Star U.S. flag (12 around 1)
exhibited in The American Flag, I.
depicted in 1973 cat. p. 36, #15)
depicted in Mastai (1973), p. 44.
depicted in The American Flag, p. 47.
Framed (size= 28.25 x 33.5)
Presidio Exhibit Gallery One Copy 2003
ZFC0609
13-Star United States Private Ensign
Date: About 18401860 Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars and linen heading; hand-sewn Comment: Contemporary illustrations from the 1780s indicate that the 13 stars of the United States flag of that period were occasionally arranged as a circle of 12 around a single central star. While illustrations suggest that this pattern was in the public mind in the 18th century, no documented flag predating the 19th century is known to survive with this star arrangement. The flag attributed to the 3rd Maryland Infantry, supposedly carried by that unit during the Revolutionary War, has been shown to be from a later period. By the 1840s, however, the circular star pattern with a center star began to find favor as a popular manner of displaying 13 stars on patriotic and political flags. While the use of the U. S. flag today is ubiquitous, during the first half of the 19th century, display of that flag by the general public was limited. As an element of political campaign memorabilia, for example, it did not take hold until 1840. While government installations were identified by their flying the United States flag, until 1835-1841 the U.S. military did not carry the Stars and Stripes into the field. The small size of this particular flag, combined with the use of three pairs of fabric ties to secure it to a staff suggests that the flag flew from a small boat or yacht of an American family residing on the Atlantic Coast. Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0609) in 2002 from the Mastai Flag Collection through auction at Sothebys of New York City.
Chicago Meeting December, 2003
(ZFC0609)
13-Star United States Private Ensign
Date: About 18401860
Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars and linen heading; hand-sewn
Comment: Contemporary illustrations from the 1780s indicate that the 13 stars of the United States flag of that period were occasionally arranged as a circle of 12 around a single central star. While illustrations suggest that this pattern was in the public mind in the 18th century, no documented flag predating the 19th century is known to survive with this star arrangement. The flag attributed to the 3rd Maryland Infantry, supposedly carried by that unit during the Revolutionary War, has been shown to be from a later period. By the 1840s, however, the circular star pattern with a center star began to find favor as a popular manner of displaying 13 stars on patriotic and political flags. While the use of the U. S. flag today is ubiquitous, during the first half of the 19th century, display of that flag by the general public was limited. As an element of political campaign memorabilia, for example, it did not take hold until 1840. While government installations were identified by their flying the United States flag, until 1835-1841 the U.S. military did not carry the Stars and Stripes into the field. The small size of this particular flag, combined with the use of three pairs of fabric ties to secure it to a staff suggests that the flag flew from a small boat or yacht of an American family residing on the Atlantic Coast.
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0609) in 2002 from the Mastai Flag Collection through auction at Sothebys of New York City.
Exhibition History Private Showing
11 November 2008
Tiger 21 Meeting, Muir Room
Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco, CA
Exhibition History Private Showing
Night of Flags
In celebration of
George Washingtons Birthday
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in California
Patriotic Services Committee
Presents
James Ferrigan, Curator, Flag Center
Ben Zaricor, Director, Flag Center
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Octagon House, San Francisco
5:30 pm 7:30 pm
This was a power point slide presentation on the period 13 star flag and Presidential flags in the Flag Center/Zaricor Flag Collection and comments by Ben Zaricor wherein the image of this flag was displayed.
Publication History:
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 47.
13-Star United States Private Ensign
Contemporary illustrations from the 1780s indicate
that the 13 stars of the United States flag of that
period were occasionally arranged as a circle of 12
around a single central star. While illustrations
suggest that this pattern was in the public mind in
the 18th century, no documented flag predating the
19th century is known to survive with this star
arrangement. The flag attributed to the 3rd Maryland
Infantry, supposedly carried by that unit during the
Revolutionary War, has been shown to be from a later
period. By the 1840s, however, the circular star
pattern with a center star began to find favor as a
popular manner of displaying 13 stars on patriotic
and political flags.
While the use of the U. S. flag today is ubiquitous,
during the first half of the 19th century, display of
that flag by the general public was limited. Moreover,
while government installations were identified by
their flying the United States flag, until 18351841
the U.S. military did not carry the Stars & Stripes
into the field. The small size of this particular flag,
combined with the use of three pairs of fabric ties
to secure it to a staff suggests that the flag flew from
a small boat or yacht of an American family residing
on the Atlantic Coast.
Date: About 1840 1860
Size: 21" hoist x 25" fly
Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars and linen heading; hand-sewn
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection in 2002 from the Mastai Flag Collection
through auction at Sothebys of New York City. ZFC0609
Item is Framed
