$20,000
Estimate: $12,000 - $22,000
A Grand Old Flag: The Stars and Stripes Collection of Dr. Peter J. Keim
Auction: November 24, 2019 1:00:00 PM EDT
Hand-sewn, double appliqued cotton stars in 'diamond' pattern, wool bunting canton, hand-sewn stripes, linen hoist inscribed in ink, "Presented to WM.N. Irvine, by his friend Sarah Downey, 1855," and stamped, "Mastai Collection," and inscribed, "No. 250," mounted and framed.
44 in. x 59 in. (sight)Provenance: The Collection of Boleslaw and Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai.
Literature: Kevin Keim & Peter Keim, A Grand Old Flag: A History of the United States Through its Flags (2007), 110.
Boleslaw and Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai, The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present (1973), 112 & 113.
Note: The Mastais' commentary on this Flag: "The Irvine Flag consisted originally of twenty-nine stars, valid in 1847; four stars were added later. The first two were inserted without spoiling the design, on the hoist side of the 'diamond': they correspond closely in texture and workmanship of the original twenty-nine. Indeed a total of thirty-one stars would have been proper in 1855. The other two stars, placed haphazardly in the lower-right corner of the canton and less carefully appliqued, must have been added as called for, in 1858 and 1859."
The Flag flown at Fort Sumter with this distinctive 'diamond' pattern was surrendered on April 14, 1861 at the start of the Civil War.