250th Anniversary First Continental Congress Flag flown on Carpenters’ Hall

$ 500.00
$ 500.00
$ 0
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Quantity must be 1 or more

Updated December 15 at 10 pm: The auction is now over. Thanks to all who participated, and our thanks to The Carpenters' Company for working with us to create this unique opportunity for history lovers.

— Lee Wright | Founder

Through a special arrangement with The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, in whose building the First Continental Congress met in 1774, we are offering the only flag flown in 2024, during the 250th anniversary year of that first meeting, available to the public.

The flag will be offered through an auction we are holding, which will end at 10 pm Eastern on Sunday, December 15. See important details on bidding below.

We will ship this to the winner no later than Tuesday via UPS 3-day.

Proceeds will be split, with a guaranteed minimum going to The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the non-profit organization that built and owns the hall.

Earlier this year we also introduced limited edition, signed, numbered prints of Carpenters' Hall.

The next time you are in Philadelphia, add Carpenters' Hall to the list of places you plan to visit. It's just a few minutes walk from Independence Hall. More information on the hall and the organization, including planning your visit, is here.

Creating this unique opportunity for history lovers

This is the 300th anniversary of Carpenters’ Hall and the 250th anniversary of the First Continental Congress, which met in the Hall from September 5 to October 26, 1774. In that first Congress, delegates of 12 American colonies, from New Hampshire to South Carolina, met to show unity and attempted to resolve their conflict with the British Government without resorting to war. (Georgia chose not to send delegates to the First Continental Congress but eventually did send delegates to the Second Continental Congress.)

The following year, the Second Continental Congress would begin meeting near Carpenters’ Hall in the Pennsylvania State House, which we today refer to as Independence Hall. A year later, in 1776, they would declare Independence from Great Britain.

We have offered flags flown at historic sites across the country, and I was eager to offer a flag flown this year at Carpenters’ Hall. However, this wasn’t something that was going to be available, so this summer I met with the organization’s executive director, Michael Norris, and proposed that a flag be flown on the building that we could offer and that we would make a donation to his organization.

Here’s what the winner of the auction will receive:
  • 3’ x 5’ Columbia Cotton™ 50-star American made flag that was flown on Carpenters’ Hall on December 2, 2024. It is made out of 2-ply woven cotton, has double needle stitching throughout, with sewn stripes and embroidered stars.
  • The flag is embroidered in recognition of the 250th.
  • It is accompanied by a certificate created for this historic occasion. It is signed by their executive director and includes the date the flag was flown.
  • A wooden display case with a custom brass plate in which to keep your flag.
This is the only flag flown on Carpenters’ Hall this year, during the 250th anniversary year of the First Continental Congress, that will be available to anyone, anywhere.

Here's how bidding works:
  • Bidding is scheduled to end at 10 pm Eastern on Sunday, December 15. If a bid is placed within the last three minutes, the time to close the auction is extended three minutes. This replicates a live auction, where bidding continues until only one bidder remains. In practical terms, this means that if you want to win the item, on Sunday, December 15, you should come back to this page well before 10 pm Eastern and continue to bid until there is no one competing against you. If no one else has entered a bid after 9:57 pm, bidding will end at 10 pm and you will have won. If someone else does enter a bid in the last three minutes, the clock will reset with an additional three minutes. This will continue until there is only a single bidder, at which point the time will expire and the last remaining bidder will have won.
If you have questions about this unique opportunity or about the bidding process, send me e-mail no later than Wednesday, December 11 so that I can answer your questions in plenty of time for you to participate in the auction.

Our thanks to Michael, Emily, and the rest of the staff and the members of The Carpenters’ Company for this unique opportunity.

While we have offered flags flown aboard USS Constitution, at Fort McHenry, atop Mount Vernon, and over Lexington Green, this is the first time we’ve been able to offer the only flag flown on a historic 250th anniversary.

If you know of a historic site that might wish to have flags offered here, please have them contact me.

— Lee Wright | Founder
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