A 39-star American ceremonial flag, circa 1890, machine-sewn, with double-appliqued cotton stars in an unusual arrangement of 6,5,6,5,6,5,6 in horizontal rows on three-part vertically formatted wool bunting canton; machine-sewn wool bunting stripes, with red, white and blue cotton fringe. 6ft x 6ft. Literature: Kevin Keim & Peter Keim, A Grand Old Flag: A History of the United States Through its Flags (2007), 144. Note: This unusual and unofficial 39-Star Flag was likely produced under the assumption that the Dakota Territory would be admitted to the Union as a single state. Instead, North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted on the same date, November 2, 1889, under President Benjamin Harrison. North Dakota has traditionally been recognized as the 39th state merely because of alphabetical order.

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