EXTREMELY RARE 15-STAR CIVIL WAR-PERIOD PROTO-CONFEDERATE "INCLUSIONARY" PARADE FLAG, hand-sewn wool, in the First National pattern, the cornflower blue canton featuring stamped-foil double-appliqued stars arranged in highly unusual Great Star design retaining portion of what appears to be its original turned bone standard. Conservation mounted in a modern frame. Circa 1861. 17" x 12" OA.
Provenance: From the Rare Flags Collection.
Catalogue Note: The present Proto-Confederate flag is an example of what scholars such as Howard Madaus have termed "vernacular inclusionary" flags. These secessionist-sympathetic flags, believed to have been made in late 1860 and early 1861, are generally modeled on the "stars and stripes" formula, but "include" a smaller selection of stars, intended to represent Confederate states - that number being itself in flux at the time. It is important to note, however, that proto-Confederate flags of the period exhibit widely varying star and stripe counts - a natural result given the absence of a formally adopted uniform flag design during the earliest period of the Confederacy. As Howard Madaus describes the phenomena, "[t]hese flags are termed 'vernacular' because they are the product of the average southerner, and not the Confederate government, and 'inclusionary' because the persons making them included the number of stars into the canton that he or she thought should be 'included' in the still-to-be-devised Confederate national flag, and not necessarily the number of states that actually had seceded or joined the nascent Confederacy."
Very good overall condition with minor wear and discoloration. Losses to two stars.