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President Abraham Lincoln 36 Star U.S. "Grand Luminary" Mourning Flag....
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Sold on Nov 13, 2023 for:
$14,375.00
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Description
President Abraham Lincoln 36 Star U.S. "Grand Luminary" Mourning Flag. This 25.75" X 36.25" handmade, silk 36-star grand luminary flag's history is rich; it was used in Providence, Rhode Island, as a mourning flag after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It was formerly part of the acclaimed collection of noted antique dealer Mr. Boleslaw Mastai and his wife Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai, formerly of New York City, and later Amagansett, Long Island. Their collection was the result of fifty years of collecting, research and study by the late husband-wife team. Mastai, started collecting in the early 20th century and amassed to greatest private flag collection in the United States; which he detailed in his landmark book The Stars and The Stripes; The American Flag from Birth of the Republic to the Present, published by Alfred Knopf, New York 1973; which was hailed as a revolution and established the American Flag as both folk art and social history.Although its popularity had waned during the American Civil War, the grand luminary arrangement of the stars to form one great star still held some degree of favor at the end of the Civil War. In this silk flag, the stars are formed into a large star centered on a star that is slightly larger than the stars composing the points of the great star. All were applied to the light blue silk canton with white paint. A black silk crepe border was added to this flag during the period of official mourning for the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Such flags were displayed in mourning, which in Victorian parlance also meant bordering all or some of the edges of a flag in black crepe.
Condition: light soiling, else fine.
With its sought-after star configuration and ideal size for display, this example is certainly one of the finest Lincoln mourning flags we have encountered.
According to the printed history of this flag this band of crepe, which surrounds the Great star, was never removed, and the flag was used to mourn other assassinated Presidents, including John F. Kennedy.
Exhibition History:
First Presidio Exhibit
36-Star Grand Luminary United States Mourning Flag
The American Flag, I and II
Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 - GALLERY V
36-Star Grand Luminary United States Mourning Flag
Chicago Meeting December, 2003
36-Star Grand Luminary United States Mourning Flag
University of California - Santa Cruz
Board of Councilors Meeting, 7 June 2012
Rare Flags Exhibit
Publication History:
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 90-91.
Depicted in Mastai (1973), p. 155.
Depicted in American Flags, p.57.
Depicted in The American Flag, pp. 90-1.
Provenance:
Acquired by Boleslaw Mastai at estate auction in Providence, Rhode Island.
Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0617) in 2002 from the Mastai Flag Collection through auction at Sotheby's of New York City. From the Zaricor Flag Collection.
View all of [The Zaricor Flag Collection ]
Auction Info
2023 November 13 - 14 Americana & Political Signature Auction Signature® Auction #6276 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
November, 2023
13th-14th
Monday-Tuesday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 13
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 716
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