U.S. 16 Star Flag - Grand Luminary "Peoples Flag".
This is a 16 Star flag in the Great Star Pattern circa 1796-1808. After Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union in 1791 and 1792, Congress approved a 15-star 15-stripe flag in 1795. After that new stars officially recognized no new States until a revised law went into effect in 1818. However, that did not prevent the American public from recognizing the additions of Tennessee in 1796, Ohio in 1803, Louisiana in 1812, and Indiana in 1816 to the union and privately manufacturing United States flags of their own design. Nevertheless, there was not attempt to revise the official United States flag until 1818.
Although no flag with 16, 17, 18, or 19 stars was ever formally adopted by Congress, the spirit of the 1794 flag resolution led numerous patrons in need of a United States flag to order one that included newly recognized states. Such flags added an extra star and sometimes a stripe to the U.S. flag of the time. This flag conforms to that spirit. The linen thread with which the flag is sewn indicates a product predating the widespread distribution of cotton thread, although the stars are cut from cotton fabric, which was not reasonably priced until after 1800. The 16 stars are arranged in the form of one great star, a design championed by Captain Samuel C. Reid in 1817. He held it to be the star pattern that would best represent the concept "E Pluribus Unum", the national motto (Out of Many, One). This is likely an early merchant ship ensign from the period 1800-1805.
The field of this flag is made from wool/bunting, lightly woven, hand-stitched with 2-ply cotton thread, and it consists of thirteen alternating red and white stripes, red stripes on top and bottom. A dark blue wool/bunting canton, 31inches wide on the fly by 31 inches high on the hoist has been inset into the upper, hoist corner so as to extend through the top seven stripes. Sixteen, white polished cotton stars, each 4.5 to 5 inches across are sewn to obverse side of the canton in the form of a large five-pointed star formation. The dark blue bunting behind each star is then cut away on the reverse side and under hemmed to expose the white from the other side; the stars on the reverse side measure 4 to 4.25 inches across (sizes may vary slightly). A white linen canvas heading, 2" wide, has been sewn to the hoist edge and each end of the heading is worked with a buttonhole eyelet for attachment to a staff by means of ties. A reinforcing piece of dark blue bunting is sewn into the upper hoist corner of the heading.
Exhibition History:
First Presidio Exhibit
Grand Luminary Sixteen-Star, Thirteen-Stripe, United States Flag
Date: Mid-Federal Period (1800-1810)
Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003- Gallery II
(ZFC0420)
Publication History:
Crump, Anne, David Studarus, photographer, "A Grand Old Obsession." American Spirit: Daughters of the American revolution Magazine: July/August 2003: P.20.
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 34.
Provenance:
• Flayderman Collection, Fort Lauderdale, FL, until 1997.
• Sold via Butterfields & Butterfields, San Francisco, CA, to the Zaricor Flag Collection 1997.
Sources:
Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.
Cooper, Grace Rogers, Thirteen-Star Flags: Keys to Identification, Smithsonian Institution Press, City of Washington, 1973.
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
N. FLAYDERMAN & CO., INC., 26 October 2011, from: http://www.flayderman.com/#top
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
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