US Revolutionary War flag sells for 12 million dollars

NEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) An American Revolutionary War flag fetched 12.3 million dollars at an auction in New York and a group of three other flags went for more than 5 million dollars to the same bidder, Sotheby's said.

The total price of 17,392,000 dollars was well over the pre-sale estimate of 4 million dollars to 10 million dollars for the two lots of battle flags captured by the British during the 1775-83 war, the auction house said.

The first lot, a flag belonging to a Connecticut regiment and captured at an engagement at Bedford/Pound Ridge, New York, on July 2, 1779, sold for 12,336,000 dollars, Sotheby's said.

The second lot, three flags from the Third Virginia Detachment of the Continental Army captured at the Battle of Waxhaws on May 29, 1780, sold for 5,056,000 dollars.

''All four flags were purchased by a telephone bidder who wishes to remain anonymous,'' Sotheby's said in a statement.

REUTERS DH RAI0431