34-Star U.S. Flag, Civil War Period.
This well made, American Civil War period, 34-star flag is a combination of machine and hand stitching. The cotton canvas hoist is finished with a roped header, often seen on maritime flags or large institutional flags. The fly is short and was likely cut to its current length as a repair job. A cotton sleeve had been added to the flag; likely for indoor post-war display.

The flag's exact history is unknown but it was formerly flag # 339 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 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 Important Flag

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