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This expertly made flag is a companion to the collection's homemade Bennington Flag (IAS-00331).  Both flags were found in Maryland and acquired for the Rare Flags collection from the same person at the same time.  While the Bennington example is entirely hand sewn, this fantastic example of the Continental Colors is entirely machine sewn, but it is evident from the style, materials, hoist, and other characteristics, that it was made to be a matched pair, likely at the time of the American Bicentennial in 1976.  The flag is made entirely of a heavy, high quality cotton.  The person who made the flag was clearly an expert seamstress, as evidenced by the well proportioned and precise workmanship seen in this flag.  Homemade or antique examples of the Continental Colors from any era are rare. I'm not aware of any examples that definitively exist from the period of 1775-1776 when the flag was used as the first American national flag at the request of George Washington.  Only a handful of Centennial era examples, dating circa 1876, are known, one of which is in the Rare Flags collection (IAS-00280).  This is the only Bicentennial era homemade example that I've encountered. The maker chose a different shade of blue for the canton of this flag than for the companion Bennington flag, which has a more purplish blue coloration.  The blues selected for each flag are accurate matches to the official blue colors used on the American flag and the British Union Jack (upon which the American Continental Colors is based).

Although this flag was made relatively recently, it's a fine example of a rare flag from modern times.  The practice of making American flags by hand, at home, became nearly extinct by the early 20th century.  Mass produced flags of 48, 49 and 50 stars comprise virtually all of the American flags created over the last 100 years.  I am contacted occasionally through the Rare Flags site by people who are making reproductions of early American flags, such as Civil War flags.  Always, their desire is to find the most accurate materials and to construct their flags in the same manner, and to the same degree of quality, as the original early American flags they seek to emulate.  The maker of these modern homemade flags from the Bicentennial era took great pride in their handiwork.  In the coming decades and centuries, these flags will stand the test of time and will stand out as masterpieces among the millions of other mass produced flags from this era.

Left: "Old Glory" Blue, the official color of the canton of the American Flag, selected for the canton of IAS-00331;
Right: official blue of the British Union Jack, selected for the canton of IAS-00332

After acquiring this flag along with IAS-00331 in 2012, a flag collector sent a note in 2019 regarding a 2017 obituary in the Washington Post for artist Virginia W. Ames, who passed away on March 3, 2017 at the age of 102 years old.

  "Virginia W. Ames, a founding member of the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Va., and creator of an oversize set of Revolutionary War-era flags for display at the Library of Congress during the Bicentennial, died March 3 at her home in Tucson. She was 102. In 1974, she was commissioned by the Library of Congress to prepare a Bicentennial exhibition of Revolutionary War flags and for the next two years
researched and then hand-sewed 12 flags under which American units fought against the British. Most were militia flags: the Rhode Island regimental flag, a Bunker Hill flag, the flag of the 3rd New York regiment and the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag with a representation of a serpent." - The Washington Post, April 12, 2017
 

This Grand Union flag was one of the twelve flags sewn for the Library of Congress exhibition.


 
Learn more about the history of the American Flag. Star Count:  None

Dates:  1976 (Reproduction of 1776 era)

War Era:  Revolutionary War

Statehood:  The United Colonies

Construction:  Cotton

Catalog Number:  IAS-00332

   

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16 Stars, Hand Sewn
Civil War Era Small Boat Navy Flag


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