Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show 2017

and were used by 19th-century politicians while campaigning for the same reason. The U.S. Navy flew 13 star flags on small boats until 1916, because it was easier to discern fewer stars at a distance on a small flag. Commercial flag-makers mirrored this practice and some private ships flew 13 star flags during the same period as the Navy. Thirteen star flags were also popular during the 1st quarter of the 20th century and have been made throughout the entirety of our existence as a free nation. We still make and readily use them today. Because any American national flag that has ever been official remains official, 13 star flags are no less so than the 50 star flag. During the 2017 Presidential Inauguration, pairs of 13 star flags in two different patterns hung behind the lectern, between the columns of the United States Capital, flanking a 50 star flag. 2016 U.S. Olympians wore patches with a 13 star flag, instead of one with 50 stars, presented in a 3-2-3-2-3 arrangement. Among 13 star flags that date between the 18th and the early 20th century, the number of known designs is rather staggering. A few years ago, when looking for an exciting new topic for a lecture I was giving at the Union League Club in New York, I decided to pull images of as many different 13 star designs that I could find among the flags that I had owned or handled. I said to myself, “I’ll just pull an example of the 20 or so different styles and talk about them.” In about 30 minutes, I had compiled over 40 varieties and, having taken the time to better contemplate the ones I knew about but had never owned, as well as a few others that were probably out there but I hadn’t seen yet, concluded that the total was probably closer to 60 or 65. As of today, I have owned even more styles and have adjusted this figure accordingly, concluding that the realistic total probably falls somewhere between 80 and 100 arrangements (fig. 6). One of the other interesting misconceptions about 13 star flags is that the pattern often associated with Betsy Ross, even if not the original design, must have been common in early America. Logic would suggest this, given the frequency with which it appears in modern times, but this isn’t the case. In fact, the pattern is seldom encountered anywhere until much later. Exceptions include a 1779-1780 painting of George Washington at the Battle of Princeton, by Charles Willson Peale, that depicts in the background a flag that appears to have a circular wreath of stars, but no stripes. This is one of the few appearances of a circular pattern in a work period to the Revolutionary War, yet it wasn’t the national flag and Peale may have used some artist’s liberty in its inclusion. While known to be especially detailed and keen on accuracy, he made at least four copies of the painting prior to 1782, one of which shows the Battle of Trenton in lieu of Princeton (the original), so he obviously wasn’t opposed to alterations. Trumbull, included a flag with what may be a circular pattern in a 1787 painting of the Battle of Yorktown but the flag is waving and it is not known if the intended design is circular or oval. Francis Hopkinson, credited designer of the Stars & Stripes, actually rendered a circular pattern of 13 eight- pointed stars, presented like the rowels of a spur, on a piece of 1778 Philadelphia currency. This did not show a flag and was not part of one. He included a similar rendering, surrounding a liberty cap, on a 1778 draft for the seal of the U.S. Board of War, but there is a flag affixed to the liberty pole on which the cap rests, and the flag, which displays only stars, arranges them in a 4-3-4-2 lineal pattern. The only surviving 18th-century illustration of a 13 star, Stars & Stripes with a circular wreath and no center star, appears in a sketch by William Barton, which served as his 2nd draft for the Great Seal of the United States, presented to the 3rd Committee designated to select it. Though it does not survive, Barton’s first draft is also said to have included such a flag. The final draft was not rendered by Barton, but by Congressional Secretary Charles Thompson, who included no flags, but did include an arrangement of 13 stars above the head of a federal eagle, placed in a random pattern. It is of interest to note that Francis Hopkinson produced some of the initial drafts of the seal, which also included 13 stars in a random scatter (fig. 4). One of the best arguments against the Betsy Ross pattern having appeared on the original flag is illustrated by the fact that so many 13 star flags exist without it. If the Ross design was the original, it stands to reason that the pattern would have been reproduced with at least some degree of frequency. Most people are surprised to learn, however, that one will rarely encounter an American flag with the Betsy Ross pattern that was, with any degree of certainty, made before the 1890s. In fact, I have owned just one that I have claimed to pre-date the last decade of the 19th century. Research conducted by the National Museum of American History notes that the story of Betsy Ross making the very first American flag for General George Washington, in the company of George Ross and Robert Morris, entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 centennial. The tale was immensely popular among an American public eager for stories about the Revolution and its heroes. The first documentation of it appeared shortly beforehand, in 1870, in a paper written by Betsy’s grandson, William Canby, for the Pennsylvania Historical Society. At the time, Canby made no mention of how the flag was designed, save for the fact that it had 5-pointed stars, per his grandmother’s suggestion. Because no earlier documentation supports the story, most W 117 W