[vtchris]

Hello all, I am an antique nut and just returned from my favorite flea market in Maine where I bought a most unusual American flag. It is quite large, maybe 9 feet, brass gromets, vintage fairly thin cotton, some age stains here and there, but two things are extremely odd. The fact that the sewn on white stars are set against a genuinely brown background plus in the corner, one star looks like an added on patch. I just was wondering if anyone out there had any knowledge of this oddity. Maybe it belongs in a museum. Thanks, Christine in Vermont

[american_flag_uk]

in the corner is star mounted on a patch of material square or oblong in shape?? you might also find another down the bottom left corner of the flag aswell?? these were commonly added to flags in times past to add strength in them and to try and stop them tearing at those points.

the brown material?? i have heard of one such case like this before... but never have seen a picture of it... could you take a pic of your flag so i can see it?
one possobility is maybe it was to be used on a film or TV set?? it would have of course been black and white (or brown and white) back then... maybe they didnt want the flags union to appear black on the TV?? (as it would if it was blue material).... i sunno its just a thought!! there must be some crazy explanation why one would choose brown!- maybe they ran out of blue material?

[vtchris]

Thanks for your reply, the only one so far. I will examine the corners more closely and send a photo real soon (I am still unpacking my RV from the trip). I assume I can attach a photo in this chat room. Christine

[Peter Ansoff]

Hi, Christine!

I'm definitely not any kind of expert on such things, but I suspect that the brown was originally blue and has changed through some kind of fading or chemical reaction. If you can post a photo, I'll circulate it to some NAVA members who are knowledgeable about such things. Also, what are the dimensions of the flag (9 x ?) ?

If I understood your original post correctly, the "patch" is an additional star, not just a corner reinforcement.

Just out of curiosity, where in Maine did you acquire the flag? My predecessor as NAVA President, Dave Martucci, is a flag collector and lives in Washington (ME).

Best,

Peter Ansoff

[vtchris]

Thanks for the thoughts! I am a bit of an expert on vintage linens and this is not a faded blue. I would attach photos, but my file size exceeds your site limit. Could someone send me an email address so I can send them the photos? Or tell me how to resize? My camera is set on lowest pixels already.
Some of the brown has actually migrated into the stars. The fabric is a fine lightweight cotton linen. Yes, the star in the corner is sewn on a reinforced piece. The dimensions are 70"x104". I purchased it from Peter at the Arundel flea market, he is a regular & an old timer there. He didn't say where he got it, although he had it a long time.

Thanks again, Christine in Vermont
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[madlw]

Thanks for such a detailed artical explaining about the 48 Star flag.