U.S. 36 Star Flag - Mastai 20.
The 36-star US flags became official on 4 July 1865, however entrepreneurs made them available as soon as statehood for Nevada loomed on the national horizon in 1863. Thirty six-star flags, like this one, were widely available in April of 1865 to celebrate Lee's surrender at Appomattox and again later to mourn the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln - two of the most significant events in United States history.
The exact use to which this flag was put to is so far unknown but it was flag #20 in the acclaimed flag 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.
The 6 x 6 rectilinear patterns were by far and away the most popular star fields for use on the 36-star flags, which would remain current until the admission of Nebraska in 1867. So many of these 36-star flags were produced that many were overprinted for political campaigns in the last half of the 19th century
