Pictured here we have an exceptionally rare and original, 1820′s large size, Hand Sewn 24 Star American Flag.

The Flag came to us without information on its origin,  but we know that the 24 Star Flag was in use from July 4th, 1822 (after Missouri joined the Union) until July 4th, 1836 (when Arkansas became the 25th state). Although this was a rather long period, 24 Star Flags are among the very rarest and most sought after by collectors.

The outstanding research website “Rare Flags” by Anthony Iasso has this to say about the 24 Star Flag:

“Period flags in this star count are extremely rare. Although the period for 24 stars lasted for a relatively long time, flags in this star count are extremely rare, since militarily the nation was at peace and flag making for home use was uncommon. Some flags were made during this period to welcome Lafayette on his visit to the United States in 1824, but of the few flags that are believed to be from this period, possibly to celebrate that event, most feature 13 stars”.

He also states:

“Flags that pre-date the American Civil War are very rare. Those in certain star counts, such as this flag of 24 stars, are almost non-existent… Both 24 and 25 star flags are exceedingly rare, with just a small handful known to survive. Although among collectors smaller flags are generally more sought after, I’m personally very attached to these majestic large ship’s flags from the early-to-mid 19th century. Flags of this period were almost never made for personal use. The few survivors of the period were typically made for maritime or Navy use. They show the age and character of that time in American history where our sailing ships traveled the world, building up our nation’s trade and influence. These large flags were grand signals of our national presence, and they were often the first recognizably American symbol that people in foreign ports, unfamiliar with America itself, came to recognize as the symbol of our nation.”

Click Here to view one of the few surviving 24 Star Flags which is amazingly similar to the example offered here!!

This particular 24 star Hand Made American Flag measures approx. 140″ by 85″ and is made of strips of red and white wool bunting type material with a blue canton with inserted white cotton stars. Every bit of the extensive stitching on this beautiful and historically important Flag is hand sewn including all of the repairs and patches.

This Flag was not a factory production piece but a very large Flag made for a particular purpose likely as a Ship’s Flag. Although this Flag was official from 1822 to 1836, it was a period of peace and, since American Flags were not made for “home” use at the time, very few flags with this star count were made. We are told that 24 Star Flags are “almost non-existent” and only a small handful are known to have survived.

There no grommets on the hoist of the Flag but rather there is an original, braided rope cord sewn into the hoist with loops in the end of the cord for mounting the Flag on a pole or mast. There are 2 holes in the hoist – one near the top and one near the bottom. The borders of these holes have been hand sewn to create a reinforced “cloth grommet” There is a period, manuscript inscription in iron gall ink on the hoist that reads “4 yds” – indicating that the Flag is 4 yards long. The canton measures approx. 74″ by 47″. The 24 stars are arranged in four rows with 6 stars in each row.

This is an exceptionally rare and historically important, 1820′s large size, Hand Sewn 24 Star American Flag and worthy of a place at the very center of even the most advanced Museum quality Collection! We are thrilled to have been able to have it if only for a brief time!!

ORIGINAL 1820′s HAND SEWN 24 STAR AMERICAN FLAG – EXCEPTIONALLY RARE SHIP’S FLAG

For more information, please see our eBay listings.

  Many of us have heard of “Deadwood”, in part due to the successful

Image of street scene from the show “Deadwood”

  Soooo… What is the REAL story?! Obviously the history is rich and fascinating, as the TV show implies, but which parts are real? What made Milch pick Deadwood as his subject matter? Well, lets find out!

Deadwood, South Dakota, 1876

The TRUE Deadwood:

The illegal settlement of Deadwood began in the 1870s on the territory granted to American Indians in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie. The treaty gave permanent ownership of the Black Hills to the Lakota Sioux, in return for the Lakota’s promise of peace with pioneers and railroad workers. The great Oglala Chief Red Cloud (Mahpiya Luta) was a signer of this important agreement.  By 1870, stories abounded about gold and other wealth to be had in the Black Hills. Settlers continued to break the treaty by entering the Lakota reservation, which caused renewed Indian raids on nearby settlements. An expedition to investigate the possibility of establishing a fort in the Black Hills in 1874 resulted in the confirmation of gold being found in the Black Hills being announced by Colonel George Armstrong Custer the military leader of the expedition (it is interesting to note that though the expedition was said to be for the above stated purpose, for unexplained reasons a geologist and miners were included on the trip). As a result of this confirmation, one of the last great gold rushes in the country started shortly thereafter, though the government tried initially to discourage it. 

Gold Mining, Deadwood, South Dakota

In 1876, miners moved into the northern Black Hills, where a miner named John B. Pearson found gold in a narrow canyon. The gulch was full of dead trees and became known as “Deadwood Gulch” and thus, Deadwood was born.

The mining camp soon swarmed with thousands of prospectors looking to get rich. Quickly the tents and shanties that originally popped upall around, began to be replaced by more permanent structures.

Though the majority of the original settlers of Deadwood were gold miners, the lack of law in the area attracted a rather rough crowd – an estimated one murder per day occurred during the first year of Deadwood’s existence! The Utter brothers (Charlie and Steve), led a wagon train to Deadwood to bring things said to be needed to increase the prosperity and business of the area. This wagon train included both prostitutes and gamblers, which were both thought to be important additions to this wild town whose population was mostly made up of men. Saloons, dance Halls, Brothels and Gambling establishments flourished, with prostitution becoming especially profitable, with an astonishing 90% of the women in Deadwood being prostitutes. Businessman Tom Miller opened the Bella Union Saloon in September of that year (why David Milch changed Miller’s name to Cy Tolliver is anyone’s guess).

1878 Stereoview Photograph of the Sign in front of Deadwoods “Bella Union Saloon”

The Bella Union was a saloon and theater in Deadwood, South Dakota, which opened on September 10, 1876. The proprietor was Tom Miller, an aggressive businessman who would buy several neighboring properties as well. The Bella Union Saloon was a relatively upscale establishment, where town meetings came to be held. In November 1878, Tom Miller went bankrupt, and the Bella Union became a grocery store downstairs, and a meeting hall named Mechanics’ Hall upstairs. A fictionalized version of the saloon appeared in the HBO television series “Deadwood”, where the owner was the character Cy Tolliver. In the 1953 musical, Calamity Jane, the character Henry Miller (not Tom), is the proprietor of the town’s saloon and theater.

Bella Union Saloon Advertising Sign with an obviously “dead drunk” patron in front!

There was no lack of characters living in and / or passing through the Town. Some of the early town residents and visitors included Lewis and Clark, Wyatt Earp, Poker Alice, the Sundance Kid, E. B. Farnum, Charlie Utter, Sol Star, Martha Bullock, A. W. Merrick, Samuel Fields, Calamity Jane, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, the Reverend Henry Weston Smith, Aaron Dunn and Wild Bill Hickok.

Both Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane call Mount Moriah Cemetary their final resting place. Deadwood was actually the site of Hickock’s murder, and then the ultimate hanging of his murderer Jack McCall, who was prosecuted twice despite the U.S. laws against it.

Eventually Deadwood became more prosperous, and began to lose some of its rough and rowdy character. In March of 1877 Seth Bullock was appointed sheriff to keep law and order. 

On September 26, 1879, a fire started in a bakery and devastated Deadwood, spreading through the business district of Deadwood and destroying more than three hundred buildings. Many of the unlucky left town to start again elsewhere without having fulfilled the early dreams of Deadwood.

ca1880, Bird’s-Eye-View Photograph of the Mining Town of Deadwood

  There is so much more information out there on this fascinating town and the people that traveled through it! I honestly did not even begin to scratch the surface of it!! Suffice it to say, now that my interest has been piqued, I will be looking into more on Deadwood, and its residents and patrons! Be sure to check back soon to see what else I have unearthed!!

For more information, please see our eBay listings.

Pictured above is what is believed to be a previously cataloged, circa 1896 Richard Outcault “Yellow Kid” Wax Head Full Figure Doll Candy Container (click here for a history of the evolution of the Yellow Kid). Extensive research has been unable to discover another example of this early, newspaper comics character having surfaced, nor any mention of the container in the extensive references pertaining to Yellow Kid Collectibles.

The Yellow Kid was the name of a lead comic strip character that ran from 1895 to 1898 in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, and later in William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. Created and drawn by Richard F. Outcault in a strip entitled Hogan’s Alley (and later under other names as well), it was one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in an American newspaper. The Yellow Kid is also famous for its connection to the coining of the term “yellow journalism.”

Mickey Dugan, better known as The Yellow Kid, was a bald, snaggle-toothed boy who wore an over-sized yellow nightshirt, and hung around in a slum alley typical of certain areas of squalor that existed in turn of the 19th to 20th century in New York City. Hogan’s Alley was filled with equally odd characters, mostly other children. With a goofy grin, the Kid habitually spoke in a ragged, peculiar ghetto slang, which was printed on his shirt, a device meant to lampoon advertising billboards.

This apparently previously unknown Yellow Kid Candy Container features the Yellow Kid doll seated with a large drum between his legs. The delicate, thin paperboard drum is covered with an even more delicate, yellow crepe paper, and the top and sides of the drum slide off the base revealing the container which held the candy. The Yellow Kid doll/figure features a wax head, wax hands, and some type of papier-mâché composition shoes. His torso is solid and appears to be contiguous with his head. It is also likely made of wax. He wears a stiff, cloth nightshirt or tunic that appears to have originally been off-white in color (though possibly a light yellow), but is now mostly a dark brown. It appears that he may have originally worn a small hat (there is a small hole in his head and a small ring around the hole that appears to be a “shadow” of where a hat may have been.

The candy container measures approximately 4” tall to the top of the seated Yellow Kid’s wax head, and 4” by 4” at the base (measured from the soles of the Kid’s shoes to his upright back and across his widely spread legs). The drum shaped paper container itself measures approx. 2” tall and 2” in diameter across the head of the drum.

Although the candy container is not marked in any way, there is absolutely no doubt that this is the Yellow Kid – besides his trademark, floor length nightshirt/tunic and the fact that he is “beating the drum,” the figure’s wax head distinctly shows the characteristics of Outcault’s comic creation. This includes two large front teeth (the Kid was often called “snaggle-toothed”), very large ears that are perpendicular to his head, and the trademark Yellow Kid “goofy grin.”

While the cloth nightshirt of the Yellow Kid is complete and intact, it has been stained a uniform, dark brown color (all of the nightshirt except the arms and the top of the back), and there are blotches of a similar brown color on the sides of the Drum. It appears to us that the original candy contained in the Drum melted or deteriorated in some way and caused this staining. The pattern of blotches on the sides of the Drum actually give it the “look” of an “animal skin” surface which, in truth, is quite attractive (although not original). The fact that the body of the Yellow Kid’s Nightshirt is quite uniformly stained dark brown and the arms remain light, creates a rather appealing look also (again, however, not original).

While we were able to uncover a number of very rare and highly desirable wax head doll candy containers from the late 19th century, we have found no mention in any of the references, nor any online references, to a Yellow Kid Candy Container such as the one offered here. We believe that it may, in fact, be a previously unknown Yellow Kid item and perhaps the only known example. Any information regarding the rarity and/or manufacturer of this fantastic Yellow Kid Candy Container would be greatly appreciated!!!

If you are interested in learning more about this item, please see our eBay listing.

We are proud to be able to announce the discovery of an exceptionally important 1849, hand drawn, bird’s-eye-view of Miami, Florida. In fact, it is the first known view of a settlement on the spot where the City of Miami would eventually flourish!! This drawing, depicted above, was made by a member of Company F of the United States Army’s 2nd Artillery Regiment, which occupied the land at the mouth of the Miami River (then known as Fort Dallas) from October 1849 to December 1850. This was the third and longest occupation of the site of Miami, Florida by U.S. Army troops, and was the first occupation since the site was abandoned in January, 1841.

We cannot stress enough the historical importance of this amazing view. It is the first known depiction of the settlement at the mouth of the Miami River, and as such is the first known view of what would become the City of Miami, Florida. The drawing was made by an artillery soldier and sent in a letter to a member of his family that lived in Southern New Hampshire. The artillery soldier not only drew a highly detailed view of all of the buildings that made up the settlement, but he also included a legend that identifies each structure as well as various topographical details. The soldier has even drawn representations of the “recreational” sailboats belonging to various officers of the Regiment.

First, a physical description of the Drawing:

The bird’s-eye-view is drawn in pencil on an unlined sheet that measures approximately 12 ½” by 7 ½”. The view itself occupies the lower half of the sheet, and depicts both the north and south banks of the Miami River at the point where the River empties into Biscayne Bay.

Fort Dallas, located on the north bank, is in actuality a cluster of small, unfortified structures. Each building is numbered and each is identified in the legend which appears in the upper half of the sheet. Included are structures identified as the residences of “Major Woodbridge,” “Dr Adkins,” “Lieut. Robinson,” and “Lieut. De Sagnol” (these are the officers of the 51-man garrison that occupied the site of Miami, Florida in 1849-50). Other structures include those identified as “Hospital Tent,” “Company F Kitchen,” “Stone Building unfinished Company F 2nd Artillery,” “Log houses. Bakehouse, Hospital, Kitchen, etc,” as well as a few other miscellaneous structures. Topographical details include those identified as “Pine Woods,” “Hammock,” Coconut Trees,” “Lime grove.” “Mound supposed to have been made by Indians,” and “Coast survey signal.”

There is a single structure on the south bank of the river, which is identified as “Mr. Duke’s Officer Boarding House,” The artist has drawn 5 boats in the river which are identified as “Kate – Lieut. Robinson’s sail boat,” “Mary – Mr Dukes government sail boat,” “Lieut. Robinson’s small skiff,” “Dallas government Lighter,” and “Canoe.” A pencil notation is written in the Miami River that reads, “Miami River five miles long / connecting everglades and bay.” Another pencil notation is written in the bay that reads “Biscayne Bay / 3 to 8 miles wide / 40 miles long.”

Besides the structures and identified details, the view includes a wonderful assortment of trees and vegetation that gives a real sense of the “look” of the area at the time the drawing was made. In the distance at the right, the profile of the opposite shoreline of Biscayne Bay can be seen. This wonderful drawing has a charming, “folk art” appearance, even though it is very detailed and was meant to be a true illustration of the site and not a work of art.

The View has vertical and horizontal folds as well as areas of light staining that confirm that it was included in a letter sent through the mail. Unfortunately, we do not have the letter sent with it nor the cover it was sent in.

Now the History of the View:

This important drawing came directly from the descendents of the soldier that made the drawing. About 2 years ago, a Southern New Hampshire auction house sold the contents of a local estate. There was an archive of letters written by an ancestor who served as a member of the 2nd Artillery and was stationed at Fort Dallas from October 1849 to December 1850. Shortly before the archive of letters were offered for sale, the family decided to keep the letters and withdrew them from the sale. This map, however, was somehow overlooked, and was purchased as part of a small group of unrelated documents and ephemera.

We have spent the past two years trying to contact the family through the auctioneer in the hopes of identifying the soldier and/or obtaining the letter of transmittal that surely accompanied the drawing. All of our efforts have been thwarted, and we have finally decided to unveil and offer the drawing “as found” with as much historical information as we have been able to find regarding its origins.

We contacted the HistoryMiami Museum – the premier repository of information and artifacts related to the history of Miami, Florida. The curators there were extremely excited about this amazing find. While not willing to state outright that this was most certainly the earliest known view of Miami (the Museum collection includes a map of the area dated 1852 that they are proud to state is the “earliest known depiction of Miami”), they agreed that this drawing was certainly “one of the earliest depictions of a settlement on the site of the City of Miami.”

In our effort to uncover the date and circumstances of the creation of this drawing we did uncover some significant information about the occupation of the site at the mouth of the Miami river in the first half of the 19th century which are summarized here:

The first two occupations of Fort Dallas (at the mouth of the Miami River) were by the Navy, Lieutenant Levin M. Powell having been sent there in 1836 and again in 1838. Operations for these short periods were those of deposit, repairs and rests after duty. Powell prepared the post for the Army in 1838 and US Navy Captain Isaac Mayo opened it again for the military in 1839.

After General Jesup defeated the Seminoles on the Loxahatchee on January 24, 1838, Fort Dallas was occupied in order to assist in rounding up the Indians and preparing them for emigration. Fort Dallas was planned to be used for a barrier to the Seminole advance into south Florida and also as an avenue of entrance by the Army into the Everglades. The first military occupation of the post lasted only from February into April of 1838. The first long occupation of Fort Dallas began in October, 1839 and lasted until January, 1842. Fort Dallas had no permanent structures during this period and was merely a tented camp.

In October, 1849, Fort Dallas was occupied again; this time by a single company (except for the first month) – Company F of the 2nd Artillery. The occupation lasted fifteen months and it was during this period that our soldier drew the view seen here. While we have been unable to identify the artilleryman who drew this wonderful view, we have found an extract of the 1850 census that details the occupants of Fort Dallas. In all, the site was occupied by 52 “persons” – 3 officers and 49 members of Company F. Of the 49 soldiers listed in the census documents 33 of the men were foreign born (25 were Irish, 5 were German, 2 were Scots, and 1 was English). Half of the 14 native-born soldiers were from New York and two were from Southern states (one each from Georgia and North Carolina). This leaves only 5 soldiers who could possibly have been the “artist” who drew the view offered here, and we believe that an examination of the complete census record will likely make it possible to determine who drew the view given that we know the soldier came from the New England states (likely New Hampshire).

While we have already done some significant research into the history and origins of this important piece of Miami / Florida History, the door remains open for further research and we trust the next owner will continue this quest!!!

If you are interested in learning more about this HISTORIC map, please visit our eBay listing.

Annie Oakley, the iconic American champion sharpshooter and trick-shot artist, was born Phoebe Ann Moses in a rural western border county of Ohio. Oakley’s amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.

Born in 1860, Annie was the sixth of Jacob and Susan Moses’ eight children. Her father, who had fought in the War of 1812, died in 1865 at age 65 from pneumonia and overexposure in freezing weather. Her mother married Daniel Brumbaugh, had a ninth child, Emily, and was widowed a second time. In 1870, Annie and her sister were admitted to an orphanage and within a few months she was “bound out” to a local family to help care for their infant son, on the false promise of fifty cents a week and an education. She spent about two years in near-slavery to them, where she endured mental and physical abuse. She would often have to do boys’ work. One time the wife put Annie out in the freezing cold, alone, to survive. Annie referred to them as “the wolves.” Even in her autobiography, she kindly never told the couples real name. When, in the spring of 1872, she reunited with her family, her mother had married a third time, to Joseph Shaw.

Annie began trapping at a young age, and shooting and hunting by age eight to support her siblings and her widowed mother. She sold the hunted game for money to locals in Greenville, as well as restaurants and hotels in southern Ohio. Her skill eventually paid off the mortgage on her mother’s farm when Annie was 15.

Oakley soon became well known throughout the region. During the spring of 1881, the Baughman and Butler shooting act was being performed in Cincinnati. Traveling show marksman and former dog trainer Francis E. Butler (1850–1926), an Irish immigrant, placed a $100 bet per side (roughly equivalent to $2,000 of today’s money) with Cincinnati hotel owner Jack Frost, that he, Butler, could beat any local fancy shooter. The hotelier arranged a shooting match between Butler and the 15-year-old Oakley. The last opponent Butler expected was a five-foot-tall, 15-year old named Annie. After missing on his 25th shot, Butler lost the match and the bet. He began courting Oakley, and they married on June 20, 1882. The couple never had children.

In 1885 Butler and Annie joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West – and the rest, as they say, is history!

An 1890’s, cabinet card photograph has recently come to light which is believed to be a previously unknown portrait of shooting champion and renowned trick shot artist Annie Oakley. The photo is by Waltermire of Sioux City, Iowa, and depicts a female trick shot artist that bears a striking resemblance to Annie Oakley. The young woman is pictured making adjustments to a pump-action target rifle (actually a Colt Lightning small frame 22 pump action rifle) and surrounded by sharpshooter targets, American flags, and a second target rifle. The image has never been seen before, and although the woman pictured bears a striking resemblance of Annie, it has not as yet been definitively identified as being a portrait of the woman respectfully nicknamed (by Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux Tribal Chief and Holy Man Sitting Bull) “Watanya Cicilla” (rendered “Little Sure Shot” in public advertisements). Given the content of the photograph and the strong resemblance of the young woman to Annie Oakley, there is a growing confidence that this is a previously unknown portrait of the iconic female sharpshooter – one Oakley historian and researcher has offered the following comment:

“I’ve seen a lot of cabinet cards people have thrown out there with Annie’s name as a suspect. This is the first one I’ve seen where I think it may be the real deal…”

The photograph depicts a young, female trick shot artist working with what appears to be a clay pigeon on the stock of the pump action Colt 22 caliber rifle. She is seated on a chair and holds the rifle straight out in front of her. Behind her is a painted background and an array of American Flags. To the right of the young woman we see a second target rifle and a number of targets and other accouterments, which one would associate with a trick shot artist in a Wild West Show. The mount is also printed with the photographer’s credits of Waltermire of Sioux City, Iowa. We know that on September 22, 1896, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West (with Annie Oakley as a member of the cast) performed at Sioux City, Iowa, and it is entirely possible that this is when the Photograph was taken.

Because this image has never been seen before, and the sharpshooter pictured is not identified in any way, we, as yet, cannot state definitively that the young woman pictured is “without a doubt” Annie Oakley. It seems almost impossible to believe that there was another female sharpshooter, who resembled Annie Oakley to this extent, that would have been photographed in the manner seen here, and who was of such notoriety that the photographer felt it unnecessary to identify in any way.

If you’d like to learn more about this piece, further details can be found at our eBay listing.

It’s America’s oldest soft drink. Pictured above is an original, tin lithograph advertising sign from around 1933. It features a wonderful image of the “Moxiemobile,” an advertising automobile that was first manufactured for Moxie in 1915.

There were several Moxiemobiles on American roads in the 1930′s, and the example seen on this sign is the Rolls Royce model. On the sign, the Moxiemobile can be seen speeding along a country road and passing a large Billboard with advertising text that reads “Drink Moxie / Distinctively Different.”

“Distinctively Different,” indeed. Moxie originated in Lowell, Massachusetts, at Doctor Augustin Thompson’s Moxie Nerve Food Company (Source) in 1876. It was originally intended to be a “cure-all” serum, which may be why some describe the soda’s taste as “medicinal.” It’s main ingredient is gentian root, which is used to help digestion and upset stomach.

On the original Moxie label, the makers claimed that the beverage:

Contains not a drop of Medicine, Poison, Stimulant or Alcohol. But is a simple sugarcane-like plant grown near the Equator and farther south, was lately accidentally discovered by Lieut. Moxie and has proved itself to be the only harmless nerve food known that can recover brain and nervous exhaustion, loss of manhood, imbecility and helplessness. It has recovered paralysis, softening of the brain, locomotor ataxia, and insanity when caused by nervous exhaustion. It gives a durable solid strength, makes you eat voraciously, takes away the tired, sleepy, listless feeling like magic, removes fatigue from mental and physical over work at once, will not interfere with action of vegetable medicines.

Some speculate that the name “Moxie” came from an Alogonquin Indian word, a tribe populating the section of Maine Dr. Thompson where Dr. Thompson grew up. It is possible that the name was derrived from the word “maski”, meaning “medicine”, which also could have been the origin of the name. As a Moxie chronicler adds, “Dr. Thompson no doubt believed that giving an Indian name to his product would lend it a mystique and perhaps imply that it contained Indian medicines.” (Source)

If you want to read more about the history of Moxie, further information can be found here.

If you’d like to learn more about this piece, further details can be found at our eBay listing.