Subject:
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Rare American Wave Flags
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 7 Feb 2007 21:45:31 GMT
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Viewed:
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2639 times
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I posted this on the Bricklink forum, but I thought it would be appropriate to
post here as well, even though about 8 months ago I posted something on American
wave flags. Enjoy!
Gary Istok
__________________
As I mentioned in the thread about the Canadian flags the other day, the first
LEGO flags were produced in 1957.
The 16 flags produced back then were:
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Iceland
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Netherlands
Belgium
France
Italy
Portugal
Britain
USA
LEGO (white background with LEGO "dog bone" logo in a red oval)
There were however several flag design changes from 1959-62.
The LEGO "dog bone" font was retired in 1960, although flags with that font
remained in production for a few more years. Around circa 1961-62 a new LEGO
logo flag came into production with a solid red background. And the logo only
had the word "LEGO". This style continued on throughout the 1960's and early
1970's, to be replaced in 1973 (when the new LEGO logo came into being) with
the new stickered straight flags with the new LEGO logo.
Another flag that changed was the USA flag. When the LEGO country flags were
introduced in 1957, the "official" USA flag had only 48 stars (6 rows of 8
stars). Then on Jan. 3, 1959 Alaska became our 49th state, and a 49th star
was added to the "official" USA flag. In September of 1959 Hawaii became our
50th state, but the 50th star was not added until July 4, 1960.
Now for LEGO USA flags...
Here's the 48 star LEGO flag seen in a 1960-61 version of the #238 Idea Book
(from Eric Strand's excellent LEGO website):
http://home.comcast.net/~strandee/238/32_page_32.htm
This photo was probably taken in 1959. The USA flag has 48 stars (6 rows of 8
stars).
Then in later versions of the #238 Idea Book, the USA flag has 50 stars.
Was there ever a 49 star USA LEGO flag produced? I don't know...
A 48 or a 49 star USA LEGO flag would probably only have been produced for
Europe. The first LEGO wasn't sold in the USA until late in 1961, so it is
likely that only 50 star USA flags were sold here. However, knowing that TLG
never threw anything away, and since flags were one of the LEGO items imported
from Denmark in the early 1960's, some 48 or possibly 49 star USA flags may have
found their way to the USA and/or Canada (maybe even Australia).
But if you have a USA LEGO flag of the early style (the base should not be
tapered), here's how you can check:
48 Star flag with 6 rows of stars:
http://www.usflag.org/history/the48starflag.html
49 Star USA flag with 7 rows of stars:
http://www.usflag.org/history/the49starflag.html
50 Star USA flag with 9 rows of stars:
http://www.usflag.org/history/the50starflag.html
A 48 star LEGO flag would date to the late 50's, and are considered scarce. A
49 star flag, if they exist, would be from circa 1959-60, and would be
considered rare. The 50 star LEGO flag started in the early 1960's, and are
the most common.
__________________________
And since we're on the subject of USA flags.... on Jan. 4, 2007 the official
50 star USA flag became the longest serving USA flag in history, with 46 1/2
years. This replaced the 48 star flag, which served from 1912 until 1959 and
was the official flag for 46 1/2 years (minus 1 day). And the 49 star flag
was official from Jan. 3 1959 until July 4, 1960 (about 1 1/2 years).
Cheers,
Gary Istok
P.S. Clark Stephens shows many of these flag types on his website, which is a
tour de force as a reference guide:
http://www.isodomos.com/VPH/Flag
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