United States of America

Made over 20 years after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, this flag is one of the earliest examples of the "Stars and Stripes" known to exist.  

The flag features 13 stars in a five-pointed variation of what is known as the “Great Star” pattern (a star made out of stars). Until 1912, there was no official star pattern for the American national flag. Up until then, the main design specifications for the flag of the United States were laid down by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777:  

Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation.  

This rare flag formerly belonged to Boleslaw and Marie D'Otrange Mastai, the first major collectors of early American flags. Flown extensively, the flag has many repairs, all of which appear to have been made during the era in which the flag was constructed.