Damaged burial flag

[pagegrays]

I recently was able to retrieve my grandfather's 48 star burial flag from my brother. For years he assured me the flag was safe, but that was not true. The flag was still folded, but when we opened it to look at the damage, we noticed several holes in it and lots of water stains. Evidently it has been in poor shape for some time. Does anyone know what I can do or who I can take it to for repair? I am not going to dispose of it. I have my grandfather's discharge and photo, so I want to preserve all of it together. Any suggestions would be great.

[NAVA1974]

I recently was able to retrieve my grandfather's 48 star burial flag ...we noticed several holes in it and lots of water stains. ... Does anyone know what I can do or who I can take it to for repair?

Too bad the flag suffered so much damage, as to do state of the art in professional flag conservation could cost thousands of dollars. If you google "flag textile conservation" you can easily find three or four of these organizations who do such conservation.

If your budget isn't that high, go to the website RareFlags (dot) com (I spell it out that way so the robot that reads these posts will not reject it for using a web address.) He has a section on Flag Restoration under "flag collecting" that may give some useful info.

If the flag has holes it it I suspect they are moth holes and the flag is made of wool. If the flag is cotton, it must have really been stored badly for the material to rot away. If you can post a few pictures we may be able to get a better idea of the kind of damage the flag has suffered and maybe give you some better advice.

Nick A
Columbia Maryland

[csaanv]

Hi Pagegreys,
If the flag is made of cotton then you could hire a seamstress that can cut out the defective areas and sew new "patches" into the flag. Of course this will make it stand out in apperence which I don't mind a bit. I had this done on a smaller 3'x5' 48 star cotton flag and the repairs stopped the fraying and made it a stronger flag to fly again. I even think the "patches" enhanced the flag. However if the flag is made of wool bunting getting real wool bunting is next to impossible unless you can find an old wool flag beyond repair that you can cut up to save another. Some people don't like that but I am all for saving and repairing old flags.
Cheers,
mike