BB*X Wrote:
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> "One change to my estimate. The flag is not the
> 38-star flag of 1877 to 1890, but the 45-star flag
> of 1896 to 1907. The 38-star flag only had 5 rows,
> while the one the child is holding has 6."
>
> "I count 47 stars which would date the flag to
> around 1910/1911. (Arizona was 48 in 1912)"
>
> How are you getting these numbers? There are five
> rows of eight stars and one row of six which makes
> 46 stars.
There was never an official 47-star flag, and pictures of 47-star flags are extremely rare. The United States only adopts a new flag on July 4, so the flag progression was directly from 46 to 48 stars, as New Mexico became a state January 6, 1912, and Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912.
I based my guess on the flag's date on the fact that there are 6 rows of stars, with there clearly being a different number of stars in the bottom two rows, and the bottom having fewer stars. The only flag that has this arrangement and seems to fit into the time period was the 45 star flag. (http://www.usflag.org/history/the45starflag.html) On the 46-star flag, the bottom row had the larger number of stars, with 8 on the bottommost and 7 on the row above it.
The name Pickett might be the name of the creator, or it could be related to the Pickett family that achieved minor prominence in Fairfax County (for example, Pickett Road is named after that family) in the last century. The 3419 isn't a date, I'm fairly certain. Maybe an item number put there by the maker.
I disagree that it's an oil painting, and stand by my assertion that it's a hand-painted photograph.
The finder might be well-served to get in touch with the Historical Society of Fairfax County
http://www.fairfaxhistoricalsociety.org/ and Historic Fairfax City
http://www.historicfairfax.org/, because they might be able to discern if there is a link to the Pickett family.
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