Collecting Antique American Flag

There are a few ways you can start to collecting antique American Flags.

Start with the 49 star vintage American flag and go back in time:

49 (1959),48(1912-1959) These flags are fairly affordable and available.

There are very few 47’s (1912)  so forget about trying to get one.

46 (1907-1912), 45 (1896-1907),44 (1890), You can find them once in a while but they are more expensive than the 48 & 49. The 45 star flag is very popular as it’s from the Spanish American War period, which has a connection to Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. Also it’s a pre-1900 era antique American flag, which is a plus.

43(1890)star flags are very rare, don’t even try to find one…

A few 42,s(1889) are available.

Virtually no 41’s (1889),

Very few 40(1889) star flags, can be found.

However you can find a 39(1889) and 38(1876-1889) star. These are more expensive than the 46-45-44 star antique American flags.

Indian war period antique American flags:

37 (1867-1876), 38 (1876-1889),39 (1889),40 (1889),42 (1889), These are highly collectable and will require a bigger budget to step up to collecting this star count flags.

Civil War era Antique American Flags:

34 (1861-183), 35 (1863-1864),36 (1864-1867)Star. Out of all the available flags to collect, Civil War flags are tops on the list. But they are expensive. They are something you can pass down in the family to cherish forever.

 American Flags that are almost impossible flags to get:

47, 43, 41, 40 Antique American Flags

Some collect all the variations of a single star count for example 45 Star Flags no one knows all the various star arrangements there are to just collecting different sizes and star arrangements of the 45 Star Flag.

Pre-Civil War Flags are very rare and are seldom seen.

There are virtually no pre-1800 era flags ever seen in the marketplace. If you ever find one they can sell for $500,000 to well over a million dollars.

13 Star Flags are the most popular and rare. However they are only from a few time periods. Their age is determined how they are made. They show up during the Civil War basically as a patriotic symbol during the two presidential campaigns. They show up again for the centennial held in 1876 again as a patriotic symbol. And then again around 1900 for the millennium. Then they show up again in 1976 for the bi-centennial. As a side note the navy has always used 13 star flags from time to time again as a patriotic symbol.

The earliest recorded evidence of a 13 Star Flag is around 1840 with the war with Mexico. The Army was documented to have used four 13 star flags.

Your budget and display area will determine if you collect parade flags, which are smaller and less expensive, or larger hand sewn flags which can get real pricey.

The price of flags is primarily determined by how many stars are on the flag. Fewer the stars the rarer it is the higher the price. Also how the stars are arranged. In rows, are they up side down, spinning, in circles, in shapes etc.

Thanks for your purchase & enjoy collecting.

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