Comments on: Which is a better collectible: A 48 or 49 star flag?

By: ART. REYES

ART. REYES — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:33:03 +0000

I,GOT THIS OFFICIAL AMERICAN FLAG OF MARE ISLAND 1941 WITH ONLY 48 STARS, DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY INFORMATION OF THE VALUE OR IF IT IS COLLECTIBLE

By: julio martinez

julio martinez — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:50:31 +0000

So I led understand that a 49 star flag not in box form is more collectable than a 49 star flag with the stars in box form. correct? would a 48 star flag that is at least 5′x8′ or 5′x9′ or bigger be highly collectable made of heavy cotton? I found a 49 star flag in my fathers garage made by the Annin co. It is in perfect condition. with the stars not in box form.Somewhere in one of my family members house is the 48 star flag mentioned above. was in my possion in 1975 left it at my parents house. Know one of my brothers took it. Don’t know who has it now.

By: Darwin Eisenhart

Darwin Eisenhart — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:14:27 +0000

In the first paragraph of the above article, it states that the 50 star flag was adopted to “recognize the admission of Alaska and Hawaii. This is incorrect. On April 4, 1818, after several variations of flags were flown, the modern design of the U.S. flag was solidified by Congress and President Monroe.

“Accordingly, on April 4, 1818, President Monroe accepted a bill requiring that the flag of the United States have a union of 20 stars, white on a blue field, and that upon admission of each new State into the Union one star be added to the union of the flag on the fourth of July following its date of admission.”

http://www.flagkeepers.org/FlagEducation.asp

Alaska became the 49th state January 3, 1959. The 49 star flag was officially raised for the first time on July 4, 1959. After that, Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959, but had to wait until July 4th 1960 for the 50th star to be added to the flag according to the law enacted by President Monroe. The 50 star flag, representing the admission of Hawaii to the union, was officially raised for the first time at 12:01 a.m. on July 4, 1960, at Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, Maryland.

The 49 star flag recognized the admission of Alaska. The 50 star flag added one more star a year later to recognize only the admission of Hawaii.

I have a 49 star flag that was given to me by my Great Grandparents when I was 5 months old. I was born in January of 1960, and the United States was officially flying a 49 star flag at that time.

By: Tom Carrier

Tom Carrier — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:33:41 +0000

Sandy: The 48 star flag became official with the addition of New Mexico and Arizona in 1912. By that time, all commercially produced flags, like Annin and Co. one of the largest, were all produced by machine, not hand sewn. Your flag, if it is made of wool, may have been embroidered by machine, not hand sewn, though. The zig zag sewing machine was perfected about 1890 or so making hand sewn stars a thing of the past. You would have a rare flag indeed if the stars were in fact hand sewn, but a close up photo would help determine that for sure. Send a photo to flagsandarms@yahoo.com and I’ll try to determine if that is the case.

Thanks.
Tom Carrier
Worthologist

By: sandy gonzalez

sandy gonzalez — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:29:05 +0000

I have had a flag packed away for 20 years that my brother-inlaw gave me 48 hand sewn stars fabric cut out on back side but it appears to be machine sewn on its strippes it is also stamped annin&co.n.y. along upper left edge on white edge do you have any information on it?