34 Star US Flag, 1861 - 1864, foreign made, former Secretary of Navy J. William Middendorf collection, former Mastai
This flag has a star pattern running in a 4-6-6-6-6-6 row series and a double layered canton. It features an extra-large header (5.5 inches wide, which is unusual) with an even more unusual method of attachment; a rope and loop header. The canton rests on a red stripe. Markings on the header read, "Ex. Coll. Ambassador Middendorf". Several generations of the Middendorf family up to the 1970's were officials in the government (State and War Departments) and admirals in the US Navy. Ambassador Middendorf was a flag collector of note, donating several flags to the Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum in Baltimore. 

This flag was possibly made in Europe in the 1860s, indicated by the unique construction of the flag which includes a header ending at the length of the canton with stripes extending to the attachment rope. 


ZFC Significant Flag

Provenance:
• Secretary of Navy J. William Middendorf
• 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.


Sources:


Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.

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.

John William Middendorf II, Wikipedia, 11 November 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._William_Middendorf

J. William Middendorf II, Council of American Ambassadors, 11 November 2011, from:http://www.americanambassadors.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Members.view&memberid=137

34 Star Flag - (1861-1863) (U.S.), Flags of the World, 11 November 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-1861.html

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection