Ken,
So, if the 5th Co. Wash. Art. flag isn't the "prototype for the prototypes", what significance does it hold in the lineage of the ANV silk flags, other than being one of the few "artillery size" silk flags made (or at least surviving)? Not trying to be facetious, just trying to learn. I have an interest in the silk ANV's. (My wife calls it an unhealthy obsession with pink silk, but, oh well...) One of my G-g-grandfathers served with the 15th Ala. Inf. under Ewell in the Shenandoah Valley. The flag they carried was a pink silk ANV. (Currently held by the Alabama Dept. of Archives & History, thank goodness). I find these flags to be facinating in that they are certainly not the "run-of-the-mill Confederate Flag". The CW has long been a hobby of mine and vexillology just happens to be my particular field of interest.