33 Star U.S. Grand Luminary Flag, 1859 - 1861, former Harry Oswald Collection.
As with the 31-star flag, the stars of the 33-star flag did not allow for an orderly arrangement of rows. The alternative Grand Luminary star arrangement had been advocated four decades earlier as a civilian star pattern for U.S. flags, but it still enjoyed great popularity at the beginning of the Civil War, as this home-made flag demonstrates. While it has been suggested that this may have been an earlier U.S. flag with 31 or 26 stars the slightly smaller stars that fall outside the perimeter of the great star are, in fact, made from the same material as the other stars. This suggests that they were all applied at the same time.

In November of 1860, four parties presented candidates for the presidency. Although Lincoln did not receive the majority of the popular vote and was not even on the ballot in nine southern states, he was elected president with a majority of the electoral votes. This flag possibly served during both the James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln administrations.
This 33 star flag has no hoist reinforcement.

Exhibition History:
First Presidio Exhibit
(ZFC1155)
33-Star Grand Luminary United States Flag

Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 GALLERY III
(ZFC1155)
33-Star Grand Luminary United States Flag

Publication History:
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 60.

Provenance:
• Acquired by purchase by Mr. Oswald from unnamed New York militaria dealer in Washington, D.C., 1980s-1990s.
• Gifted to father, Mr. Harry Oswald, Portland, OR, until 1997.
• Purchased by Zaricor Flag collection, 1997.



ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

Sources:



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

Samuel Chester Reid, Wikipedia, 24 October 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Chester_Reid

Great Star Flags (U.S.), Flags of the World, 25 October 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-gstar.html

Martucci, David, Great Star Flags, US Flags: Part 5, 25 October 2011, from: http://www.midcoast.com/~martucci/flags/us-hist6.html

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
Harry Oswald, Portland, OR.