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Volume 8 Number 2

 

www.smALLFLAGs.com

 

Sesquicentennial

33 and 50 Stars

Briefly mentioned last newsletter, this year is the 150th birthday of Oregon, location of the international headquarters of . Furthermore, we're located in Oregon City, the first US city to be incorporated west of the Rocky Mountains.

What's all this have to do with flags? Well, by law a new star is added to the US flag on July 4th following the admission of a new state into the Union. Oregon was the 33rd State, being granted Statehood on February 14th, 1859. Hence the 33 star flag was adopted and flown until 1861.

Another interesting historical note: due to its place in time, this was also the first flag fired upon by the Confederate army in the Civil War.

So, Dear Reader, if you live in the United States, do you know when your star was added?

For more information on historical flags, please contact us.

"Factoids"
Fimbri-what?

Fimbriation. Originally an heraldic term ... wait. What's that? Having to do with heraldry ... wait. What's that? Mostly, it's the design of coats of arms and such. In any event, fimbriation can basically apply to the separation of colors in a design for whatever reason - whether in a coat of arms or a flag.

However, it can also refer to the process of decorating with a fringe.

Perhaps not surprisingly the word comes from the Latin fimbriatus, from fimbriae, meaning "fringe". But you knew that.

Anyway, to get on with this story, it occured to us as curious that our Mini-Banner of South Africa is an example of a fimbriated flag design that is displayed with fimbriation.

Mini Banner for South Africa

Happy April.

Other Flag Tidbits

In 1916, US President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed June 14th as US Flag Day in reference to the adopting of the Stars and Stripes by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. However, it wasn't until August of 1949 that Congress established National Flag Day.
 

Peace Pedaler

Jamie in France

Now here's a case of "walking your talk" on wheels! Thanks to a random order for for the back of his bike, we found out about one Jamie Bianchini and his mission for peace. Find out more about his travels and activities on his website.

April 22nd Earth Day:
Grassroots from the ground up

Earth: it's where all our friends live.

Since 1970 this day has been set aside to remind us of our fragile "Spaceship". Although it started as a citizens' "movement", it brought about many official governmental changes. Read about its history at the EPA's website.

The Natural Earth Marble We hope our humble offering of Earth Art can help inspire a deeper appreciation of our relationship to this marvelous planet.

Other Product News

Did you know that we now carry 285 different designs of Acrylic Key Rings? Our Canadian Acrylic Key Ring

10% discount offer/quiz

The flag of ** *****.

Take 10% off any purchase made through the end of May, 2009 by entering the name of this flag in the "Coupon Code" field of the Checkout Page of your order. Coupon Codes are case sensitive, so please enter this one in all caps. Hint: just use the single last word in this country's name to identify the flag.

If you’re phoning or emailing in your order, just mention the answer to this quiz and we’ll happily calculate your discount.

This offer is exclusive of any other offers and does not include Shipping and Handling charges.

Last Offer/Quiz Answer:
Last issue's flag was that of the Basque Country. Did you know that we now have Basque Country Rectangle Patches?

 

For questions or comments regarding this newsletter, please write webmaster@smALLFLAGs.com.