35-Star U.S. Ensign.
This is a large hand-sewn 35-star wool bunting flag. The flag's early history is a ship's Ensign in the Civil acclaimed collection of noted antique dealer Mr. Boleslaw Mastai and his wife Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai, formerly of New York City and later of Amagansett, Long Island.
This flag has construction similarities with ZFC3324, a 35-star US naval ensign, which s a cut down ensign that is missing several feet from the original fly length. The designation "20" on the hoist is a mystery as it is neither a size dimension marking nor a US Navy flag size number marking, leading to ouir conclusion it is an inventory number from an American Civil War contract naval ensign or a ship board marking for type of use.
The rapid expansion of the United States Navy for both blockading the southern coast and combat operations against the Confederate forces, outstripped the ability of the US naval yards to supply all of the flags needed by the expanded force. Accordingly, many naval flags were contracted from civilian suppliers.
The Mastai collection was the result of 50 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 ground breaking book The Stars and The Stripes; The American Flag from Birth of the Republic to the Present, published by Alfred Knopf, New York 1973. It was hailed as a revelation of the American flag as art and as social history.
Provenance:Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection in 2002 from the Mastai Flag Collection through auction at Sotheby's of New York City.
ZFC Noteworthy 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.
35 Star Flag - (1863-1865) (U.S.), Flags of the World, 27 April 2012, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-1863.html
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
