Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

[Mike Ventura]

"They" say that this could go ion the $1.8 - $2.2 MILLION range

http://americana.ha.com/misc/663Preview/?ic=rightcolumn-preview663-b032707

[Jubilo]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

Dear Sir ,
Thank you for the link and Christmas only eight months away !
all for the old flag,
David Corbett

[mmurphy]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

Amazing how some people can put a price tag on history and it's artifacts...


Michael Murphy
Pvt. Co. A 33d Va.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

For those who might be interested, New Rumley, Ohio will have its annual Custer Day in June:

http://www.timesleaderonline.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=7157

[markj]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

Here's the EBay listing:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/72068-General-George-A-Custers-Personal-Battle-Flag_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28267QQihZ007QQitemZ170118089166QQrdZ1

If somebody had told Libby Custer that, one day, her flag would be likely worth a million bucks, she would have politely showed them the front door.

Yours, &c.,

Mark Jaeger

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

Even more fortunately for history, or the wealthy - take your pick - is that this flag survived the fire that consumed the commander's quarters at Ft Abraham Lincoln in the winter of 75-76 (I think)> Libby writes very movingly about moving as many of their belongings out of the house and into the snow.

[Rough_and_Regular]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

If you go to ebay and look at what original Civil war items they have for sale you would wish you were a millionaire and buy it all. However, I feel something of that importance should be in a museum and not in a private collection. Something like this http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/...m=170118089560 should be behind glass for all to enjoy and not stuck in someones house and be under threat of fire and theft. Check out more of this seller auctions and you will see alot of identified items for sale. So in closing i feel and would hope a curator or a museum picks up that flag and restores it and puts it on display!!

Matthew Fox

[hendrickms24]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

I personally think private collectors have done museum and historical items a great service. Most museums would not have anything to show if it was not for some collector that had the foresight to collect the items when most people never even thought the items had value. So I would think twice before you bash any of them.


Just my two cents,

[Custerboy]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

If you go to ebay and look at what original Civil war items they have for sale you would wish you were a millionaire and buy it all. However, I feel something of that importance should be in a museum and not in a private collection. Something like this http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/...m=170118089560 should be behind glass for all to enjoy and not stuck in someones house and be under threat of fire and theft. Check out more of this seller auctions and you will see alot of identified items for sale. So in closing i feel and would hope a curator or a museum picks up that flag and restores it and puts it on display!!

Matthew Fox

I just hope whoever wins it in auction cares for it properly. The image looks like the colors have been kept folded in a box, and it's not backed with any stabilizing material. Kind of inappropriate for a $2 million item.

When I was with the 7th Mich. Vol. Cav. in CA we had fund drives to preserve some of the Michigan battle flags at the capitol. There are probably hundreds of flags throughout the US that need to be stabilized and stored properly. This is a great way for a reenacting unit to take part in preserving history. Maybe some of you are already doing this.

Hopefully the auction winner will loan out the colors to an appropriate institution.

[RJSamp]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

What color are those sabers? Howard Michael Madaus makes a big boo boo in this writing:

"HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER'S FOURTH PERSONAL HEADQUARTERS FLAG DURING THE CIVIL WAR by Howard Michael Madaus Major-General George Armstrong Custer's fourth personal headquarters flag dates from March of 1865, but its basic design is the same as the three other personal headquarters flags that had been made for him in 1863 and 1864. This design was wrought on a swallowtail field, that is an otherwise rectangular flag with a triangular wedge cut out of the flying edge so that the design would be readily identifiable even in the lightest movement of the wind or motion of the flag. The design that appeared on the four personal headquarters flags flown near Custer was otherwise simple: the field was divided horizontally into two bars of equal width, the upper red and the lower blue. Appliqued in the center of this field were two white crossed sabers, unsheathed and displayed crossing with their cutting edges up. In the years before the Civil War such crossed sabers served as the distinctive insignia of the cavalry regiments serving on the western frontier. Custer's flag bearers during the War carried four successive flags of this basic design. Fortunately a combination of production idiosyncrasies conjoin with surviving documents and references to permit a reasonably accurate sequence of usage."

[Custerboy]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

What color are those sabers? Howard Michael Madaus makes a big boo boo in this writing:

"HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER'S FOURTH PERSONAL HEADQUARTERS FLAG DURING THE CIVIL WAR by Howard Michael Madaus Major-General George Armstrong Custer's fourth personal headquarters flag dates from March of 1865, but its basic design is the same as the three other personal headquarters flags that had been made for him in 1863 and 1864. This design was wrought on a swallowtail field, that is an otherwise rectangular flag with a triangular wedge cut out of the flying edge so that the design would be readily identifiable even in the lightest movement of the wind or motion of the flag. The design that appeared on the four personal headquarters flags flown near Custer was otherwise simple: the field was divided horizontally into two bars of equal width, the upper red and the lower blue. Appliqued in the center of this field were two white crossed sabers, unsheathed and displayed crossing with their cutting edges up. In the years before the Civil War such crossed sabers served as the distinctive insignia of the cavalry regiments serving on the western frontier. Custer's flag bearers during the War carried four successive flags of this basic design. Fortunately a combination of production idiosyncrasies conjoin with surviving documents and references to permit a reasonably accurate sequence of usage."

I had always thought the sabres were white, but they appear gold in the image. Strange.

[Rob Murray]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

What color are those sabers? Howard Michael Madaus makes a big boo boo in this writing:

RJ, Madaus did not make a big boo boo. If one turns to pg.# 61 of The Custer Album, the author, Lawrence Frost describes the flag as: "Red and blue silk with crossed sabres in white on both sides and edged with heavy white cording made by Mrs Custers hands."

Dr. Frost owned it and I'm sure he knew what it looked like. Also, you can see another version of the flag on pg. 289 of EOG.

[Dignann]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

The flag did not bring as much as anticipated.


Grant's sword draws high bid of $1.6M at Civil War auction

Gettysburg Times [Gettysburg, Penn.]
June 24, 2007

A diamond-adorned sword presented to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant brought a winning bid of more than $1.6 million Sunday in an auction of Civil War items.

The sword given to Grant, who later became the 18th president, was one of the marquee items among the 750 to be auctioned Sunday and Monday in Gettysburg, site of the 1863 tide-turning Civil War battle - by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas. Online and phone bidders also participated.

Another showcase item up for bid was Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's frayed battle flag, which was auctioned for $896,250.

That left Grant's sword as the priciest item, going for $1,673,000 to an unnamed bidder.

Gary Hendershott, Heritage's director of Civil War auctions, described the sword as maybe the finest from the Civil War period. "It's really a hallmark of American silversmith craftsmanship." He noted that bidders in France recently paid more than $6.5 million for a gold-encrusted sword once owned by Napoleon.

Grant's sword was presented by citizens of Kentucky in 1864 to honor his promotion to General-in-Chief of all Union forces. The silver and gold sword contains a 28-diamond monogram and is covered with intricate designs, including engraved battle scenes on its 33-inch blade. The sword has belonged to the Donald Tharpe Collection of American History since 1989. It remained in Grant's family until the 1960s, when it was acquired by collector Jay Altmeyer.

Custer's silk, swallow-tailed battle flag was made by his wife, Elizabeth, and carried into battle during the closing days of the all-American conflict. The banner, which features crossed cavalry sabers, was at Custer's side at Appomattox Courthouse, Va., when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered Confederate forces to Grant.

The flag was left at Custer's headquarters at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, in 1876 when Custer and his men were wiped out at Little Big Horn by Lakota and Northern Cheyenne warriors.

Custer's flag stayed within his family until 1956, when it was acquired by Dr. Lawrence A. Frost, who kept it until 1990. Elizabeth Lawrence owned the flag until 2003, when it went to the collection of Thomas Minckler of New York City.

Another item of note that was auctioned included a "Bonnie Blue" flag carried by the 3rd Texas State Cavalry. It drew a bid of $47,800.

The total amount bid for the first session was more than $5.1 million.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PA_CIVIL_WAR_AUCTION_PAOL-?SITE=PAGET&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Custer's battle flag to be auctioned

Looks like Grant's sword is going to the Texas Civil War Museum.


Grant sword goes for $1.6M

By SEAN HILLIARD

Hanover Evening Sun [Hanover, Penn.]
June 25, 2007

For a while Sunday, it didn't look like Gen. George Custer's personal battle flag would even sell for the minimum bid of $850,000.

Eventually, though, the flag, hand-sewn for Custer by his wife Libby in 1865, did sell for $896,250, still far short of the $2 million some had predicted it would fetch.

That left a sword that belonged to Ulysses S. Grant, the highest-priced artifact at the auction at the Wyndham Gettysburg Hotel in Straban Township, fetching more than $1.6 million.

Flags, swords, pistols, knives, belt buckles, spurs, diaries.

You name an item of potential Civil War importance and it was up for bid.

"This isn't like a coin where another one will come along in a couple of years," said Bob Merrill, an auctioneer with Heritage Auctions of Dallas. "After today, these items will be gone for a generation or two until the owner dies."

The Portland, Ore., man presided over the auctioning of close to 300 items Sunday, with around 700 more to go today. From his podium in the hotel's presidential ballroom, Merrill introduced each item, often telling a little information about some of the more historically important items.

Gen. George Custer's personal battle flag featured two sabers crossed over a red and blue background on silk that has considerably frayed and faded over the years.
"That's the magnificent lot," Merrill said, then indicated the framed flag itself, which was in the back of the room next to the door. "If you want to see it, there it is."

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's silver-and-gold sword featured 26 diamonds set in the initials "USG" along with the goddess Victory as a handle over a golden sunburst and a large amethyst. The 33-inch blade is intricately etched with battle scenes.

The sword was presented to Grant in 1864 by President Abraham Lincoln and the citizens of Kentucky.

"What can I say about this lot that hasn't already been said?" Merrill asked the audience. "It's priceless."

Bidding started at $950,000 and quickly grew to seven figures. The winning bid was $1.6 million, and the room burst into applause for the sword's new owner, Ray Richey, of Fort Worth, Texas.

"This is where it's going," Richey said while flashing a business card for the Texas Civil War Museum, where he is curator.

Richey wasn't the only person to leave the auction happy. Ben Zaricor, of Santa Cruz, Calif., successfully bid for about 12 different flags at the auction, some reaching bids of more than $20,000.

Zaricor has collected flags for more than 35 years and has more than 2,000 in his collection from around the world. He owns flags from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and even special flags like the one flown on John F. Kennedy's limousine in Dallas the day he was shot in 1964 and one recovered by a firefighter that was flown on the south tower of the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001.

"I'm trying to keep the history with the artifact having not just the flag but the story behind it," Zaricor said. "It's been a tough but successful process so far."

Zaricor declined to say how much his budget was for the auction other than it was a "considerable amount," but he quickly added that any auction-goer has to have one.

"You always have to have a line, or you'll get caught up in the emotion of it," Zaricor said.

Another experienced auction attendee was Paul Orange, of Chambersburg, who successfully bid for a letter signed by Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson in 1863, shortly before his death.

"I've been looking forward to this for months," Orange said.

Orange said his budget was between $20,000 and $50,000.

But others came to the auction without any notion of spending money at all.

One of them was Brad White, of Tulsa, Okla., who works at real estate auctions.

"I'm kind of an auction junkie," he admitted with a smile. "Some of the trinkets and photographs selling for a couple hundred dollars are tempting, and if I had a couple hundred dollars lying around, I wouldn't mind bidding on them."

White also said the auction was a unique opportunity.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own some of these items because they'll be locked up in a vault somewhere for a generation after this," he said. "It's interesting to think of them in that fashion."

http://www.eveningsun.com/localnews/ci_6224274

Eric