US Flag Crystal Palace London 1851

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jolly roger
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2017 9:51 am
Location: London

US Flag Crystal Palace London 1851

Post by jolly roger »

Hi,

I read your interesting article about the US flag (Have You Been Hornswoggled? Which Flag is Which?) some years ago since then I tend to pay attention when I see the flag on display. I spotted this photo from the Crystal Palace Exposition World Fair London 1851, which has the US Military flag on display.

I'm not sure if this is of any interest, but here is the photograph just in case?

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Image Gallery

Regards
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notmartha
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Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:16 pm

Re: US Flag Crystal Palace London 1851

Post by notmartha »

Interesting...

I do wonder which flag it is.

The Great Exhibition was open from May 1, 1851 till October 11, 1851.

This 30 star flag was "official" from July 4th, 1848 till July 4th, 1851.

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That doesn't look like the one shown...

This 31 star flag was "official" from July 4th 1851 till July 4th, 1858.

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That doesn't look like the one shown either...

It's kinda hard to count the stars on the one hanging in Crystal Palace, but the canton definitely looks different than both flags that were "official" in 1851.
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jolly roger
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2017 9:51 am
Location: London

Re: US Flag Crystal Palace London 1851

Post by jolly roger »

I agree it's difficult to determine how many stars are on the flag.

I have reuploaded the images as they seem to have been removed by the image host for some reason. I suspect these images will be removed again at some point so if anyone is interested in them it's probably best to save them locally.

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None of those renditions seems to match the flag at the exhibition either?

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The photograph seems to be from the period of the original exhibition, when the building was located in Hyde Park 1851 - rather than at a time when it had been relocated to Penge Common in 1854 (now called Crystal Palace South London).
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