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I am just finishing up the Lego CD Chapter on Lego flags, and I came across
something that I found very interesting which may never have been discussed on
LUGNET.
If you check Clark Stephen's awesome rare Lego parts site, it shows the Lego
wavy flags (as well as later flat flags with sticker sheets):
http://www.isodomos.com/VPH/Flag
The early USA wavy flag with smooth base came into production (along with 13
other country flags) in 1957.
In 1957 the USA flag had only 48 stars (which it had since 1912 when New Mexico
and Arizona became the 47th and 48th USA states).
Alaska became the 49th state on Jan. 3, 1959, and the 49th star was added to the
USA flag on Jan. 3, 1959.
Hawaii became our 50th state on Aug. 21, 1959, and the 50th star was added on
July 4, 1960. (Note: they probably waited for adding the star for Hawaii until
the 49 star flag inventory was sold! :-)
Anyway Lego wavy flags from 1957-60 were probably of the 48 star variety,
although I have not seen any. I doubt that a 49 star USA Lego flag was produced
for 1 year, but with TLG anything is possible! In 1960 with the addition of the
50th star to the USA flag, a new Lego flag was eventually produced (1960? or
1961? or ?).
Even though Lego was first sold in USA in late 1961, it is very possible some of
the older 48 star flags may have made it to the USA from the Billund flag
inventory. But in any likelihood, they must have been sold in Europe (in parts
packs #1242 and #242).
Here is how the different flags have the star arrangements:
48 Star:
http://www.usflag.org/history/the48starflag.html
49 Star:
http://www.usflag.org/history/the49starflag.html
50 Star:
http://www.usflag.org/history/the50starflag.html
Please feel free to copy/paste this post to European Lego websites!! It is more
likely that Europe is where any 48 star flags are found, but I haven't found one
yet.
Looking forward to discovering some new Lego rarities!!!
Thanks,
Gary Istok
P.S. Unfortunately Canada "got no respect" from TLG back in 1962 when they
started selling Lego. The first Canadian flag didn't come into production until
1969, a few years after the new Maple Leaf flag was introduced. The old
Canadian dominion flag (red field with stars and the Union Jack in the corner)
would have been an awesome addition to the Lego country flags. That old flag
was similar to the Australian flag (which came into Lego production in 1966),
except the Australian flag had a blue background with Union Jack in the corner.
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Very Rare (1957-60) USA Lego Flag?
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| I hope I don't confuse people.... "USA flags" and "USA Lego flags" are 2 different things. The dates listed are the offical USA flag dates. The actual USA Lego flag dates are unknown to me (except the 1957 date of first Lego USA flag sales). Gary (...) (19 years ago, 20-May-06, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Very Rare (1957-60) USA Lego Flag?
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| Well I found the 48 star flag! It is in Building Idea Book 1 (known as #238) from 1960-68: Here is a 1960-61 variation of this book showing all the Lego specialty parts sold in 1960 (from Eric Strand's Excellent website!). (Bottom right of picture (...) (19 years ago, 27-May-06, to lugnet.general)
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