US Flag WW-2 Normandy – Lot 0209

• No Reserve
• Margin
• Buyer's premium 16.5 % of the hammer price and VAT according General Conditions
• Location: Nederweert The Netherlands
• Estimated Price: Euro 1000,- Euro 2500,-

Description:
This 48-star "Normandy" US flag is discovered on a flea market in Normandy France by BAIV historian Mrs. Carry Harts in June 2019. She discovered it quite by accident when she was going through a box of books. According to the seller, it belonged to an old lady who had recently passed away. Because she had a beautiful collection of books, the family decided to sell the collection to a buyer who visited various historic markets to sell it in 2019.
So the flag was actually a kind of “by-catch”.

An eyewitness:
In retrospect, it is a very special piece. The flag is a typical American WWII flag. It was almost for sure taken to Normandy by the US troops. The discoloration clearly shows that the flag has not always been treated very gently.
An excess of sunlight has discolored a section considerably. Also some traces can be found where it was It was ripped by the wind.
Furthermore, the quality of the flag is still exceptionally good.

This Flag is most probably one of the eyewitnesses leading the allied advance at the beaches of Normandy nearly 80 years ago. It might therefore highly collectable.

Note:
In 2016 a similar flag was sold at auction and bought by Dutch collector Bert Kreuk for $514,000. This Flag however was on the US Navy's LCC 60, one of just three advanced fleet vessels directing troops onto Utah Beach in German-occupied France on June 6, 1944. Howard Vander Beek, who commanded the vessel as a Navy lieutenant, kept the flag throughout the war, brought it home and kept it in his basement until he died in 2014.
In 2019 this flag came home in the US. On July 18th 2022 the handover was a main part of the visit to the White House by Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, who held Oval Office talks with President Donald Trump.
Retired Dutch businessman and art collector Bert Kreuk, always had the intention of donating it to the United States. “I cannot keep it myself. It needs to go to the right institution. I need to give it back,” Kreuk said in an interview ahead of the ceremony, at which he spoke.
Hi want to make sure that it was preserved for American history and a reminder of the supreme sacrifice of our warriors, and the beautiful friendship between the Dutch and the American people.
This flag is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

Size:
66 x 116 inch (167 x 295 cm)

Markings or stamps:
Non