what American flag is this (with 40something stars in circles)?

July 31, 2018 8:01 PM

About 3 minutes into this video, behind the speaker, you can see an American flag with perhaps 43 or so stars. What is this flag?

The wikipedia "Flag of the United States" page shows historic US flags but this one does not appear ( the "US 38 Star Flag concentric circles" flag from 1877 comes close but it's not the same ). If you can tell anything about the history of this flag, that would be nice too.

posted by metadave to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

Direct time stamped link
posted by zamboni at 8:08 PM on July 31, 2018

Best answer: Medallion flags were around during the Civil War. Also, in the West during the 1890s.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:10 PM on July 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I believe it’s the flag Steve Schmidt is discussing in this tweet:

It’s a 45 Star flag and was indeed the flag the United States fought the Spanish American war under. It is a Utah statehood flag and I live in UT. It flew over the Presidencies of GC, a New Jersey native like me, and McKinley and TR

The pattern of the Stars was discretionary until 1912. That is called a medallion wreath pattern. Find the website of Jeff Bridgeman. You will find lots of examples.

posted by zamboni at 8:11 PM on July 31, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks! That looks exactly right.
posted by metadave at 8:55 PM on July 31, 2018

For future reference: When I visited Disney World a few years ago, I noticed that Main Street USA was covered with 45(?)-star flags. Even the cast member I asked didn't know why that was - but a bit of googling discovered that technically, they're not flags, and thus aren't expected to be taken down at night, illuminated, and all of the other stuff that's disrespectful if you don't do it to a flag.
posted by Hatashran at 10:10 PM on July 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

I noticed that flag, wondered about it... and promptly forgot.

Thanks!
posted by Marky at 11:09 PM on July 31, 2018