"Chart of National Flags", Henry Bill, 1858.
This chart, measuring 19" x 23" was lithographed onto paper and features the flags of the major nations of the world in 1858. Intended for an American market, it prominently features an image of a 33 star United States Grand Luminary flag in the upper center. The use of a Grand Luminary flag in such charts in unusual, as is the depiction of an small flag with vertical stripes and identified as an "American Customs" flag in the upper left region of the chart. This flag is meant to be a representation of the United States Revenue Marine & Customhouse Flag, however it only has 13 vertical stripes as opposed to the standard 16. This misrepresentation is one example of a larger trend which reinforces the theory that these flags had 13 vertical stripes.

In each corner of the chart lie the flags of other major nations. Clockwise, starting from the United States flag the flags are the Ensign of the French Empire, the Imperial Standard of the German Union, the Imperial Standard of Russia and the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The chart additionally contains 96 other flags, including ensigns, pilot flags, and jacks which represent the world as it was in 1858. Many of the flags represented on this chart are now obsolete.
This chart was published by Henry Bill whose imprint at the bottom of the chart is as central to this chart as the United States flag, taking up a significant portion of the lower part of the chart. Bill was New York book publisher who also published charts, maps, panoramic views, and historic scenes.

Provenance: Acquired in 2006 by purchase from Nicholas Artimovich, Columbia, Maryland.

ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

Sources:


National and Maritime Flags of the World 19th Century American Lithograph, George Glazer Gallery, 5 October 2011, from: http://www.georgeglazer.com/archives/prints/worldhist/billflags.html

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

Flags, Logos, Pennants, Seals & Streamers, United States Coast Guard, 5 October 2011, from: http://www.uscg.mil/history/FlagIndex.asp

Saba, Ann, Tradition, Service, Honor The Customs Ensign, January 2000, US Customs Today, 5 October 2011, from: http://customs.gov/custoday/jan2000/tradtn.htm

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.

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

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection