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  EXTREMELY RARE, BOLDLY GRAPHIC AND COLORFUL, TEDDY ROOSEVELT PEACE TREATY / NOBEL PRIZE TEXTILE, CA 1905-1906

Available: Sold
Frame Size (H x L): Approx. 33.5" x 33.5"
Flag Size (H x L): 22.5" x 22.5"
Description....:
EXTREMELY RARE, BOLDLY GRAPHIC AND COLORFUL, TEDDY ROOSEVELT PEACE TREATY / NOBEL PRIZE TEXTILE, CA 1905-1906:

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt brokered a treaty between Japan and Russia to end the Russo-Japanese War, which centered on control of Korea and Manchuria. The outbreak of war in 1904 closely followed a war between Japan and China over roughly the same lands. The reason ongoing struggle for of the territory was its great importance to China and Russia as a warm water port on the Pacific coast.

Japan had a fledgling navy but it was gaining power and defeated China in 1903, to the great embarrassment of the proud Qing Dynasty, which led to a revolution in 1911. Russia was amazed that Japan actually attacked before it did, and the Russian Navy and Army fared little better than the Chinese against the growing Japanese Empire. The Russian people, dissatisfied with Tsar Nicholas II, led their own revolution in the same year the war ended, in 1905.

Roosevelt mediated a treaty between the two countries in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on September 5th, 1905, and received a Nobel Peace Prize for his actions in 1906. This rare and brilliant, kelly green textile glorifies Roosevelt's role, as well as his history with the Rough Riders, who are depicted along the top edge. They act as a crest for the heart-shaped medallion that holds a beautiful color image of the president, as nice as any that exist in American political cloth. Around the heart are the famous words uttered by Henry Lee in his a eulogy for George Washington:

"First in War, First in Peace, First in the Hearts of His Countrymen".

Below this are portraits of the head of the Russian delegation, Sergius Witte (left) and the Japanese delegation, Baron Jutaro Komura (right) seated at a table with a fountain pen and their respective documents. Witte was the author of the October Manifesto of 1905, a precursor to Russia's first constitution, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) of the Russian Empire. Komura, a Harvard Law School graduate, was Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The textile is marked "By Campbell, Metzger, and Jacobsen" in the bottom left corner. Located in New York, the firm was in operation as early as 1896. An example of it resides in the collection of the Smithsonian and is documented as item 950 on page 376 of "Threads of History: Americana Recorded on Cloth, 1775 to the Present" by Herbert Ridgeway Collins. Collins served as curator of Political History at the Smithsonian and his book is considered the Bible of political textiles. The Collins book incorrectly records the textile as dating to 1904, while the war was still on. It most likely dates to 1906, when Roosevelt received the Nobel Prize for Peace.br />
This is one of the rarest and most desired Roosevelt items, with outstanding color, in a remarkable state of preservation.

Mounting: The flag has been hand-stitched to a background of 100% cotton twill, black in color. The background fabric has been washed to reduce excess dye. An acid-free gent was added to the wash to further set the dye and the fabric was heat-treated for the same purpose. The flag was then placed in a black-painted, hand-gilded and distressed Italian molding. The front is u.v. protective plexiglas.

Condition: Excellent. Near-to-mint.
Collector Level: Advanced Collectors and the Person with Everything
Flag Type:
Star Count:
Earliest Date of Origin: 1905
Latest Date of Origin: 1906
State/Affiliation: New Hampshire
War Association:
Price: SOLD
 

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