Four American flags sell at Sotheby's for $17,392,000

God bless Sotheby's.

In an auction in New York today, four Revolutionary War battle flags sold for $17,392,000. My source says "It was so exciting to watch."

Four Battleflags of the Revolution: Captured by Lt.-Col. Banastre Tarleton in 1779 and 1780, The Property of Capt. Christopher Tarleton Fagan

The earliest Revolutionary War flags were modifications of British flags. The stripes of the Union Jack were simplified into thirteen red and white stripes signifying the union of the thirteen states. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed a resolution for the creation of a national flag. “Resolved that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white, that the Union be 13 stars white in a blue field representing a new constellation.”