13 Star Flag on eBay

[NAVA1974]

This 13 star flag on eBay (closing March 24) is not quite as old as the seller says.

Antique Independence 1876 Centennial Flag 13 Stars - eBay (item 320672672379 end time Mar-24-11 17:44:40 PDT)

The close-up photos clearly show that the stars are affixed by zig-zag machine stitching, a method that was not used on flags until the 1890's. Flags of the USA Centennial era (1876) typically had stars sewn on with straight machine stitching, although hand-sewn stars were also very common.

Zig-zag stars on flags were patented in 1892 by an African-American but he lost his patent fight when the judge ruled that it was not a patentable process (in apparent disregard of what the United States Patent Office thought.)


Here's another example of the same 1890's flag:
13 Star Flag 1893 World's Columbian Exposition pattern | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

And here is an example of a Centennial era (or earlier) 13-star flag:
13 Star Flag Hand Sewn Stars 1860's to 1870's | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Nick A.
Columbia MD

[sanseven]

thanks i'll have a look