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Lot 215W

An Extremely Rare Flag Of The Free Imperial City Of Strasburg
Dated 1672

30 November 2011, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £2,500 inc. premium

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An Extremely Rare Flag Of The Free Imperial City Of Strasburg
Dated 1672

Of light blue silk, the centre with applied buff silk shield retaining traces of original hand-painted foliate scrollwork and with yellow and crimson diagonal bands, the ground painted in gilt foliate gothic letters 'Greifst Müthig zur Asehr/Fürs Vatter Lands Ehr', the date in gilt numbers beneath (edges probably reduced, large patched repair in upper left corner, some old holes, lined in white silk), tacked onto a wooden pole of tapering circular section with threaded gilt-brass leaf-shaped finial pierced and engraved with the monogram 'NH': in its iron-mounted hinged tubular wooden storage case painted grey (some old splits and damage, two catches of three incomplete)
200 cm. high x 197 cm. wide

Footnotes

The inscription is in old German and reads in translation: 'Bear bravely [this] before you for your fatherland'. Under this inscription are traces of what appears to be an earlier inscription and date

This flag seems to have been utilized the year before the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War of 1673-79 and, as a flag of the free Imperial City whose status was granted in 1262, represents the last years of the city's independence while being harassed by the France of Louis XIV who finally conquered and occupied it in 1681. By a treaty of 1588 the city had been protected by Swiss Protestant soldiers from the cities of Bern and Zürich, who were ultimately defeated. It remained in French possession until 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian war and the defeat of Napoleon III

Additional information

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