36-Star U.S. Flag.
This wool, double appliqué, 36-star US flag was made with both machine and hand stitching as well as metal grommets. It boasts all of the characteristics of a flag made near the end of the American Civil War. The flag's history is unknown but it was formerly flag # 49 in the acclaimed flag collection of noted antique dealers Mr. Boleslaw Mastai and his wife Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai, formerly of New York City and later of Amagansett, Long Island.
The canton's starfield is four horizontal rows of nine stars each, which is a rarely encountered star pattern for 36-star flags. The flag is marked "A.W. Thompson" on the hoist, which may be a reference to the Private A.W. Thompson who served in the 148th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, late in the Civil War. The 148th was raised and entered in the Federal Service on 21 February 1865 and served in Tennessee, guarding railroads and participating in anti-guerrilla operations. They were mustered out of Federal Service on 5 September 1865.
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.
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. 152.
Provenance:
• A.W. Thompson, 1865.
• 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 Important 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.
36 Star Flags, Flags of the World, 27 April, 2012, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-1865.html
A.W. Thompson, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park service, 27 April 2012, from: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
