36 Star U.S. Flag - conversion from a 34 star flag, 1865.
This large, professionally made wool flag is a conversion. The striking star pattern at first seems to be part of the original flag, but upon inspection, several of the stars can be seen to have been added at a later date. Furthermore, the flag was finished originally with whipped, stitched eyelets generally seen on flags made prior to the Civil War.

The star field does not readily reveal the original star count, but it was at least a 34-star flag before the 35th and 36th stars were added in the top and bottom rows. It is intriguing that the other stars on the flag seem to also have been added prior to these two stars. This has led to speculation that the flag may have had a star count as low as 28 stars and updated through some of the most dynamic decades of the 19th century: the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s.

This flag's history is unknown, but it was formerly flag #21 in 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 culmination of fifty years of collecting, research and study by the late husband-wife team. Mastai started collecting in the mid 20th century and amassed the greatest private flag collection in the United States, which he detailed in his seminal 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 which was acclaimed as a revelation of the American Flag as art and as social history.

Publication History:
Mastai, Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D'Otrange, The Stars and The Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the republic to the Present, Knopf, New York, 1973, p.132.

Provenance:

• Acquired by Mr. & Mrs. Boleslaw & Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai, New York City, and Amagansett, NY, The Mastai Collection, until 2002.
• Sold via Sotheby's Auction in New York City to the Zaricor Flag Collection, 2002.


ZFC Significant Flag

Sources:


Mastai, Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D'Otrange, The Stars and The Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the republic to the Present, Knopf, New York, 1973.

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection