142-year-old Canadian flag to fetch $60,000 at auction

A 142-year-old Canadian flag in "pristine" condition is to be sold at a June auction in Toronto, where bidders for the Confederation-era relic are expected to pay up to $60,000 to acquire the "rare piece of Canadian history."

The 1868 Red Ensign, which features the coats of arms of the four newly united provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, was in use for only three years after an independent Canada was formed on July 1, 1867.

The Red Ensign was altered in 1870 when Manitoba joined Confederation and its provincial shield was added to the flag's design.

"We are absolutely thrilled to be offering this incredibly fine and rare historic object," said Sotheby's Canada president David Silcox. "This flag has been part of Canada's identity, one way or another, since the Hudson's Bay Company flew it on their ships and at their trading posts beginning in 1670. It has flown over our early settlements, our outposts, our schools and post offices, our government buildings, and our war graves, for nearly three and a half centuries."

While the Union Jack remained Canada's official flag following Confederation, the Canadianized Red Ensign — primarily a maritime banner used to identify this country's ships — gradually gained popularity as a distinctive symbol of the nation.

By 1891, governor general Lord Stanley of Preston was describing the Canadian Red Ensign as "the recognized flag of the Dominion both afloat and ashore," according to Sotheby's.

Described as "immaculate and large," the 1.2-x-2.1-metre flag has been preserved in a private collection for generations, the auction house said. It "remains in exceptional condition. Its vibrant red cloth is intact and unfaded," said Sotheby's.

The artifact is to be sold at the Royal Ontario Museum on June 2 during Sotheby's annual spring sale of Canadian art.

The Red Ensign — modified several times as Canada added new provinces during the first century of Confederation — was finally replaced in February 1965 with the current Maple Leaf flag.

But the new banner was only adopted after a wrenching national debate and a parliamentary deadlock in which Conservative leader John Diefenbaker defended the Red Ensign against Liberal prime minister Lester B. Pearson's push for a uniquely Canadian symbol devoid of the British-based ensign's miniaturized Union Jack.