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46 Star Flag - (1908-1912) (U.S.)

image by Clay Moss, 5 February 2007

Description of the flag
Jack
Variant Designs

See also:

Description of the flag

In 1908, one star was added, representing Oklahoma, bringing the total number of stars to 46. There were thirteen stripes representing the thirteen original colonies.
Rick Wyatt, 5 April 1998

This flag flew from 4 July, 1908 to 3 July, 1912. If any of you have a copy of National Geographic's November(?) 1917 flag issue, there are a couple of pictures of the USS Michigan with a 46 star naval ensign draped over her bow, although she was launched on 26 May 1908.
Clay Moss and David Prothero, 5 February 2007

Jack

image by Clay Moss, 5 February 2007

Variant Designs

image by Clay Moss, 27 February 2007

This arrangement represents what I believe was probably a frequent variant. I have personally seen eight 46 star US flags thus far in my life time. All of them were this pattern. With that said, they were all in the possession of people from either Alabama or Mississippi. It makes me wonder if there was perhaps a company in the US south that was manufacturing them for southern consumption.
Clay Moss, 27 February 2007

image by Clay Moss, 27 February 2007

This arrangement is a variant that appeared on e-bay just a few weeks ago. I didn't think to capture a picture of it, but it was 42x80 inches. There's a second version of this flag on e-bay now I think. It's all printed, and the stars are turned every which direction, but the basic pattern lay out is the same.
Clay Moss, 27 February 2007

image by Clay Moss, 1 March 2007

This variant is illustrated with its stars all pointing downward. I'm not sure if this is/was intentional of not. If it wasn't, and the seamstress accidentally inserted the canton upside down, then it stands to reason that there was yet another variant of the 46 star US flag.
Clay Moss, 1 March 2007

image by Clay Moss, 30 March 2014

I recently ordered some inexpensive polyester flags for my classroom. One of them was a 46 star U.S. flag with this unusual pattern. The pattern is basically a staggered 48 star pattern, minus 2 stars.
Clay Moss, 30 March 2014

That 46 flag looks like somebody just added a star to the last line of a 45-star flag canton.
Pete Loeser, 31 March 2014

I happened to see this design in an auction house here in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday. It has staggered rows of 8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8 stars, I agree with Pete Loeser that it looks like an ad-hoc addition of one star at the bottom right hand corner of a 45 star flag. Unlike that seen by Clay Moss, this was a full size (say 10 feet across) sewn bunting flag.
David Rogers, 18 December 2015

image by Clay Moss, 20 December 2015

Meanwhile, here is another version of the 46 star US flag, two rows of 8 stars on top, that was apparently quite common.
Clay Moss, 20 December 2015

image by Dave Martucci, 18 May 2024
based on photo provided by Greg Voss, 18 May 2024

Flags like this were made during many periods in the 19th century and into the early 20th century when multiple states were created and newer ones were anticipated. The manufacturers left room for the purchaser to add additional stars as new states were admitted to the Union. A very similar 38-star flag (dated 1881) can be found on page 208 of So Proudly We Hail by W.R. Furlong & Byron McCandless, edited by Harold Langley published in 1981 by the Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN 0-87474-448-2 [fmc81].
Dave Martucci, 18 May 2024