A DWIGHT EISENHOWER 49-STAR PRESIDENTIAL AUTOMOBILE FLAG. Hand- and machine-stitched blue nylon ...

A DWIGHT EISENHOWER 49-STAR PRESIDENTIAL AUTOMOBILE FLAG. Hand- and machine-stitched blue nylon with applique Great Seal of the Presidency and ring of 49 stars, gold fringe to three sides. H: 19 in; W: 29.5 in. Provenance: made by U.S. Army Quartermaster dept, c.1958; used by President Dwight D, Eisenhower Administration, 1959; acquired by Major Anthony S. Suglia, presidential aide, and in his possession until 1999; by descent to the Suglia family until 2005; sold (as a 50-star flag) via Leland's Auctions, Bohemia, NY to Christopher Hearn, Leesburg, Virginia, 2005; Christopher Hearn Collection, until 2010; Heritage Auctions, Dallas Texas, November 17, 2010, lot 47199, sold after sale to Zaricor Flag Collection, 2010. This is an extremely rare 49-star U.S. Presidential Automobile Flag. It was official for just a year between 4 July 1959 and 3 July 1960, used for the period between the admission of Alaska as the 49th state and Hawaii as the 50th. Presidential flags with 49 stars are exceedingly rare as few were made; according to US Government records the order for the 50-star versions was placed in August of 1959. These flags are also hard to identify and are often confused with their longer-lived 48- and 50-star counterparts. (This flag has been sold at auction twice as a President John F. Kennedy flag.) The present flag, however, it is identical to a flag on the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum, # QMR-478, cataloged as being made in 1958, produced in anticipation of the statehood of Alaska and used until the statehood of Hawaii made it obsolete. A census of surviving 49-star presidential flags reveals that no complete 49-star flags were ever embroidered from scratch; the three known embroidered versions were converted from 48-star presidential parade and auto flags by sewing a ring of 49 embroidered stars onto pre-existing flags. These flags--like the present example--represent a 'field expedient' solution to the need for the short lived 49-star flag. This flag was acquired at auction from American Political Items Collectors national president and leading Kennedy specialist Christopher Hearn, who had in turn acquired it from the estate of Major Anthony S. Suglia, who served as a military aide to Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing