Bear Flag · A Country That Lasted 25 Days · Heritage Holiday Ornament
Bear Flag · A Country That Lasted 25 Days · Heritage Holiday Ornament
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Bear Flag. Rough cloth on a lashed staff: one red star, one walking grizzly, one red bar along the bottom. It was thrown together in June 1846 by settlers who woke up one morning and declared themselves a republic.
The revolt that gave the flag its name lasted less than a month, from June 14 to July 9, 1846, when American forces raised the Stars and Stripes and California's short-lived republic folded into the Mexican-American War. The flag itself was the work of William Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln, who painted the bear on unbleached cotton with whatever he had; one story says berry juice. By most accounts the grizzly came out more hog than bear.
The design outlived the republic. When California adopted its state flag in 1911 it kept the star, the bar and the bear, and the grizzly is often said to be modeled on Monarch, a real California grizzly captured in 1889 and shown for years at a San Francisco park. The California grizzly bear was gone from the wild by the 1920s. It survives on the flag.
Our own engraving-style drawing, set in crystal so the weave of the cloth holds under the lights; the star and the stripe supply the red. Three inches across.
For Californians anywhere, flag collectors and vexillology fans, history readers, and everyone who likes a symbol with a better story than the government it flew over. Profits go to hunger relief.
Faceted crystal, three inches across, with a white back so the line work reads clearly from anywhere in the room once the tree is lit. Red ribbon. Boxed in gold or white, your call at checkout. Ships free anywhere in the U.S.
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Merlin Classics is a volunteer-run, AI-assisted apparel project celebrating timeless local style. Every item is made to order, and profits (revenue minus external product/marketing cost) support hunger-relief programs in the communities our collections spotlight. Classic looks, real local impact—every purchase helps.