A banner time for flag collecting

American flag waving may be a centuries-old tradition, but flag collecting - especially of those with unusual configurations or interesting variations - started hitting its stride in the last two decades.

And then came 9/11.

With patriotism at an all-time high, antique flags became a symbol of national unity. People remembered old flags stashed in their attics, bringing them into the light and onto the market.

That's around the time York antiques dealer Jeff R. Bridgman saw a big change, too, and he responded by doing more shows and increasing his advertising. The response was overwhelming.

"I was in flags before that, but when I started to push it, things really started to change," he said.

These days, historic flags and patriotic decorative arts are the focus of Bridgman's business. Not just on the Fourth of July, but year-round, he continues to see a significant increase in people wanting to collect flags. Banners from the Civil War - Union and Confederate - are in especially high demand as the country marks the 150th anniversary of that conflict.

Still, the beginning of the last decade was when historic flags' popularity took off, as important examples began to appear at shows and auctions. In 2002, the flag collection of Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai sold at Sotheby's New York. (The Stars and Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History From the Birth of the Republic to the Present, which records the collection, has become a major reference for collectors.)

And then Sotheby's struck gold in 2006 when it was offered the opportunity to sell four Revolutionary War flags - the last in private hands - taken as war trophies by the notorious British commander Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton in 1779 and 1780.

One of the four, the flag of the Second Continental Light Dragoons of Connecticut, the first to feature 13 red and white stripes, brought $12.34 million, still a record not only for flags but for textiles, military, and Revolutionary War material. The other three sold as a group for a little more than $5 million.

What determines a flag's value? Experience certainly trumps appearance. That's why a tattered guidon - a swallow-tailed flag carried by cavalry troops - from the Battle of the Little Bighorn sold at Sotheby's in December for $2.2 million. The only flag not captured by the victors, the example was discovered under the body of a trooper by the burial party.