NEW YORK, Apr 9, 2003/ FW/ --- Thirteen stripes and 50 stars in a field of blue is brief description of Old Glory.

To say that it has an interesting story to tell will be an understatement.

Each stripe represents the 13 original states, each star represents the states that make up the U.S. today.

Combine them together and you get - infinite diversity in infinite combinations. And that's a lot of stories to tell.

"Fabric of Gold American Flag" by Elantolia

But what if someone decided to tell the story of Old Glory in gold and precious stones?

Elantolia Jewelers did, and the result - a beautiful work of art named "Fabric of Gold American Flag."

Measuring 36 inches wide by 18 inches high, it needed 15 lbs and 8.5 ounces of gold to finish.

The stripes were hand-woven from .33 millimeter strands of solid 22 karat white and yellow gold, and attached together with approximately 8,500 of 2.8 mm square mounts.

The 50 stars weighs a total of 33.17 carats of brilliant, white VS1I diamonds while the blue field is made of approximately 8,500 royal blue sapphires, weighing 265 grams.

It took about one year and seventeen days to make at a cost of over US$1M dollars.

According to John Metya, president and CEO of ELANTOLIA Corporation, creators of the "Fabric of Gold" flag, "Elantolia set out to make this unique flag to pay homage to the United States in the aftermath of September 11th. It took more than a year to complete the flag."

Each stripe of the flag was handwoven by a talented master craftsman in the Turkish town of Trabzon on the Black Sea coast, using a thousand-year-old method of weaving gold .

Elantolia designers worked with the handful of remaining master weavers to create the "Fabric of Gold" American Flag.

The craftsman wove the gold at a slow pace, twisting, looping, setting the gold fiber that is less that a millimeter in width.

Because the gold is 'woven' the texture is not hard, but soft and flexible and almost feel like velvet.

In short, the 'Fabric of Gold American Flag' can be flown like a regular flag. In fact, it has been flown before - at the yatch of an American millionaire (who wants to remain anonymous) when he was at the Mediterranean Sea.

The flag was flown in its custom made flagstaff made of 22 karat solid gold, brushed finished.

The "Fabric of Gold American Flag" made its debut in the U.S. last January at the JA New York Winter show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

With a work of art as unique as this one, there has been a lot of bidding on it since it went on display at the JA New York Winter Show. Sotheby's is handling the bidding.

If you want to bid for the flag, or just want more information, please call, Trent & Company, Inc. at (212) 966-0024.