(CIVIL WAR) William N Dunnell engraver Patriotic bunting

Sale 2675 - Lot 85

Price Realized: $ 938

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(CIVIL WAR?) William N. Dunnell, engraver. Patriotic bunting. Wood engraving, 23 x 30 inches, printed in red, blue, yellow and black; worn with substantial loss in image area and at edges. New York, circa 1850s-1860s

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Additional Details

This decorative piece was printed on thin paper, apparently for use as a patriotic bunting. A bald eagle holds in its beak a ribbon inscribed "E Pluribus Unum," and holds a shield with 35 stars.

A cotton flag using this same engraving and credit line was held by the Smithsonian Institution. The margin in the present paper piece shows that it was not excised from a larger flag. Collins, in "Threads of History," attributes a date of 1876 to the flag (entry 435) for reasons unclear to us. West Virginia was the 35th state, admitted in 1863, so the stars suggest a production date shortly after 1863.

William Nichols Dunnell (1825-1921) is listed in OCLC as the engraver for numerous items from 1848 through 1857. He is listed as an engraver in Philadelphia in the 1850 census, and as a wood engraver at 195 Broadway, New York from 1855 to 1859. However, he was ordained as an Episcopalian clergyman in 1859, working in New Jersey and New York City. He was for many years the chaplain for New York militia units. Perhaps he was inspired by the Civil War to dust off his burin for one last large project?