Brown Stripe on flag

[normdale]

Greetings to all; I'm a newly registered member. The reason I registered is because I have an old 48-star flag. It was left in a house we bought many years ago. I took the flag off a pile of trash that the former owner's children left. It was folded in a triangle and I thought it may have been used in a military funeral and I just couldn't let it be trashed like that. So I took it home but never unfolded it until just recently. When I unfolded it, I found that one of the stripes is brown. It's not a stain because it's just one stripe and the stitching is white. I would like to know if anyone out there knows if there is a meaning to the brown stripe.

The name ANNIN & CO. is on the white border of the flag and next to that it says 5 x 9 1/2 FT U.S.

Thanks for any help. Happy Holidays.

[american_flag_uk]

Hi there

Is this what should be a red stripe or a white stripe?

Look at the stitching of the brown stripe - does it differ from the stitching through the rest of the flag??

I've never heard of a flag being MADE with a brown stripe - but I'm thinking that it must have been sewn there after it was origionally made - and that if it is in place of a red stripe - that they simply did not have any red material there when it was needed to repair a rip or stain on the stripe.

[normdale]

The brown (actually sort of a caramel color) stripe is instead of a white one and the placement is where the second white stripe from the bottom should be. All the stitching on the flag is white and appears to be continuous throughout all the fabric so I don't believe it was added afterwards or that it was because of a shortage of white fabric. I think, based on the size, that it covered a coffin and then the brown stripe would have run along the side of the casket just where the side and the top would meet. I am wondering if perhaps that one stripe has some military significance, i.e., maybe a certain officer rank?

[american_flag_uk]

could i please see a picture of the flag?