39 Star Flag -unofficial- (U.S.)

Last modified: 2002-09-28 by rick wyatt
Keywords: thirty-nine | united states | unofficial |
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by Steven M. Schroeder, 18 November 2000

• Q: When did the U.S. flag have 39 stars?
• "International Flag"

See also:

• United States of America
• History of the Stars and Stripes
• U.S. Flags With Unofficial Number of Stars

There never was an "official" 39 star US flag. However, flag manufacturers betting on early sales misjudged in 1889 by believing the two Dakotas would be admitted as one state and the others would be delayed until after the 4th of July. Both Dakotas, Montana and Washington were made into states in November, 1889 and Idaho was admitted July 3, 1890! So any 39 star flags in existence were probably made in the fall of 1889 (see below).

At any rate, as collectors know, there are a few 39 star flags around and they are real collectors items. I have been searching for one for years! Also there are unofficial 42 star flags in existence, made before July 3rd 1890, betting Congress would wait until after the 4th to admit Idaho.

There is a photograph (of a photograph) of a 39 star flag in the July, 1959 National Geographic, pg 119. The caption reads,

"This 39-star Banner Legally Never Existed. The maker of this 1889 flag gambled on the possibility of Dakota Territory entering the Union without companions. He lost: Congress divided the Territory and admitted Montana, Washington, and Idaho as well. Senator Frank Case of South Dakota views a picture of the flag and its owner, Harold L. Rutland, a Union, New Jersey, teacher (page 117)."

by John Ayer, 23 April 1999

A thirty-nine-star United States flag with small flags of thirty-eight nations (labeled) around the border. Boleslaw and Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai's book _The Stars and the Stripes_ shows an example on page 162. The caption says, "The 'International Flag,' patented in 1875 with an unofficial total of thirty-nine stars in its constellation, is notable not only for its canton--which contains six vertical 'rows,' three with small stars and three with large stars--but also for its border of small flags of the nations that were to attend the United States' hundredth birthday party." The header (but there are no grommets) bears the inscription, "PATENTED DEC 28, 1875." Colorado was admitted to the Union as the thirty-eighth state in August 1876, becoming the "Centennial State," and apparently the designer of this item guessed that Dakota Territory would become a state at about the same time. In fact no more states were admitted for more than a dozen years. Evidently not all thirty-nine star flags date from around 1889!
John Ayer, 23 April 1999