Flag

 

We ventured upstate on Saturday to do our annual rummage and estate sale treasure hunting. I was really excited to have scored this vintage, possibly antique, American Flag. Being a huge fan of Antiques Road Show, I know that certain Americana things can possibly be worth a lot of money. The $5 price tag made the sale a no brainer, but after I was unbelievably curious to learn more about the flag. I could tell it was not new by the brittle wool fabric, the wear and tear and discoloring it had. Upon further  research, I learned a whole lot about the history of American Flags. This particular flag is called a Yacht Ensign. It has a circle of 13 stars with an anchor in the middle, 7 white and 7 red stripes. 

To determine the value of a flag there are the factors of design, age, scarcity, size, condition, quality, etc. Now I am in the process of tracking the history of this particular flag made by the Valley Forge Flag Co. I know they started the company in 1882 and began sewing flags in Spring City during the Depression era. I've emailed the company with questions about when they started making this style flag and when they stopped producing this flag with wool fabric. I love the investigation of this and learning about something I might never have been interested in. And maybe I even found a gem!—but probably not : (

While we're on the topic of flags, I actually have made one before! Not American, but Chilean for a story about wine for Men's Journal.

It was quite rewarding and fairly quick and easy to make. I pieced the different color fabrics together in the proper flag size, created a star and stitched it on, ironing in between steps. The finished flag was so crisp but i needed it to look old so I tea stained and wrinkled it up for the purpose of the photo shoot.