Last modified: 2008-08-16 by rob raeside
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by Jennifer Leslie
Please help me identify this flag.
Jennifer Leslie, 7 January 2007
Could you please identify a flag on a uniform button as follows (if
possible). The button is 22.5 mm diameter two-piece gilt spun back with the
makers name Firmin, London on the back. It has a roped edge with an grommet
inside that.- Lined background
The flag itself is a pennant on which is a diamond shape. On the diamond are the
letters C & S. Unfortunately no colours are shown apart from the fact that the
diamond has a deckled finish usually indicating in heraldic convention terms the
colours of either yellow or orange.
As a committee member of the British Button Society and a collector of shipping
buttons for many years, I have had few problems in identifying the majority of
buttons that come my way but this one really has me beaten - I had thought maybe
a yacht or boat club burgee but somehow I don't think so. Unfortunately the
backmark used by Firmin covers a number of years so pinning it down to a
particular period is difficult- all I can suggest is that it could be any time
post WW1 up to just after WW2 (early 50's).
Ian Scott, 9 January 2007
image
provided by Nelson Schmitt
I picked this flag up at an estate sale. I'm pretty sure it's Japanese and
most likely WWII era. The previous owner was a WWII collector and dealer. Do you
have any idea what flag it could be? I'm not even sure which way is up or
whether it is flopped the right way. The top of the image is where it fastens to
the pole but I don't know if it hangs down or outwards. Japanese flags seem to
hang both ways.
Nelson Schmitt, 10 January 2007
If we rotate the image, a plowshare and joined cross appear. I feel this is
too specific for having been an ornamental banner.
Jan Mertens, 12 January 2007
image by John Gorto
Can you help identify any of these badges? I think the "A" is Alaska
Shipping, but the rest are unknown to me.
John Gorto, 7 February 2007
The blue flag with white cross and red diamond is
Isthmian Steamship Co..
Alaska SS Co. is also correct.
Jan Mertens, 8 February 2007
Blue flag with red R on white diamond is C. Rowbotham & Sons (Management)
Ltd. GB.
From Stewart's 1963 Flags and Funnels.
David Prothero, 8 February 2007
The white burgee with a letter P is reminiscent of the pilot's flag used by
Argentine pilot's c 1928. This latter was white, without swallow tails, and bore
a blue letter P. It is possible, therefore, that this is a pilot's badge.
Lesley Prince, 9 February 2008
USBF stands for United States Bureau of Fisheries. (It also stands for United
States Bridge Federation and United States Bocce Federation, but I don't think
these run shipping lines). Interesting there is a china plate listed on EBay
with the initials USBF and what appears to be a flag as well.
Lesley
Prince, 9 February 2008
I collect flag pins and recently acquired one interesting pin. It's a
triangular flag - there's a red disc in the middle and blue rays on white
background. If it were red rays I'd say the flag was Japanese. But this has left
me in wonder.
Bojan Kotur, 8 February 2007
image by
Steve Conroy
I've been searching and even thought I had a good lead with an Italian line,
but no matches. Anything like this in your House Flag memory?
Steve Conroy, 15 February 2007
image by Rob Raeside
I recently bought a painting of a sailing ship
(see this photo), which as you can
see is a merchantman built, I imagine, about 1850. I'm not a sailor, even less
an historical naval architect, and have no idea from the look of the ship
where it might have been built or owned. Nevertheless I would like to know a
little more about it, particularly whose house-flag is flying at the mast
redrawn above. [The flag on the painting is not clearly identifiable, but I have
been assured closer examination reveals it as shown here. - editor]
Rodney Russell, 28 February 2007
image by Alan Rae, 5 March 2007
I am trying to identify two flags, which are shown on a pack of playing cards
I bought while in Germany. The playing cards were made in Austria and judging
from the styles of pictures on the cards they were probably photographed in the
thirties or forties. I have gone through your web pages and the flags have
similar colouring to those of Hungary and Austria, but I could not find a match
and I imagine that there was a considerable redrafting of flags in Europe in
first half of the twentieth century.
I have attached a scan of the flags and would appreciate any pointers you could
give me to help me trace the flags and a period.
Alan Rae, 5 March 2007
I suspect that these are generic designs so chosen as not to be any national
flag of the time.
Rob Raeside, 5 March 2007
These might be supposed to be the flags of USA and Bolivia. The US-flag was
simplified to just 13 stripes without the blue canton and the stars. The white
stripe in the Bolivian flag may be just a printing error.
J. Patrick Fischer, 6 March 2007
I was writing to ask if you know a flag with three vertical stripes: green,
yellow, black. There is a feather with a quill to the left and the tip of the
feather to the right crossing all three colors horizontally. The man I met was
out canvassing asking me if I knew Jesus. He was wearing a hat that reminded me
of people who are around the ocean/fishermen, like the character from Gilligans
Island, White Cap. He was an older gentlemen and spoke with bit of brogue like
from North Carolina Outer Banks accent. Much appreciate any thoughts you may
have?
Scott Spearman, 11 March 2007
It sounds like the Native-American Vietnam Vet flag, however, the stripes
don't match to what was described. See
http://www.spiritconnectionstore.com/images/vietflagW1.jpg.
Darryl W. Perry, 12 March 2007
image
by Claude and Bernard Sache, 9 April 2007
The attached photograph was taken by my parents last year in the Bukhara History and Local Lore Museum, housed in the Ark Citadel. The flag is shown in a window together with old weapons; there is no caption and nobody there was able to say anything on the flag. The flag is green (most probably, in spite of looking black) with a red border and white charges, from left to right, the left hand of Fatima, horizontal and pointing to the hoist; a crescent pointing to the hoist; and three stars in a triangle, one "inside" the crescent and the two other ones placed vertically near the flag fly. The stars seems to point to the upper left corner of the flag but this is not sure since the flag is partially folded. These charges are also shown on the flag of the Emir of Bukhara from the early XXth century.
I have purchased a silk flag that I have been unable to identify. It is 6ft.
x 3ft., burgundy back ground with a shield in the center (light green color)
with scissors on the shield and a lion above the shield. Surrounding the shield
on both sides branches with large leaves that resemble holly leaves (green and
gold) and at the top of this branch it resembles a poppy flower. There is a
union jack in the upper left corner. At the bottom of the flag the date 1832 is
embroidered. In the lower left corner, embroidered, is the name John Campbell,
1838. Any info. would be greatly appreciated.
Sharon, forwarded by Al Kirsch, 15 April 2007
From the information given on this link it, could be the personal flag of
Campbell:
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nc/rowan/wills/cam0001.txt
Brian Johnson, 14 January 2008
image seen on eBay by Bill Garrison, 15 April 2007
I'm not an expert on the subject but after
a quick look at the Cyrillic alphabet, there doesn't seem to be an "inverted C"
or "N" as on the flag so it is probably another alphabet.
Marc Pasquin, 15 May 2007
There certainly isn't an inverted C, Neither is there an "I", although that
is used in some Cyrillic-influenced scripts such as Ukrainian and (IIRC)
Serbian. for some reason (possibly the costumes of the people on the flag) I
suspect it's actually Balkan rather than Russian.
James Dignan, 15 May 2007
It has flipped letters, so it must be Russian. Much simpler than do a quick
search for "reversed C" and learn all about the "Ɔ"/"ɔ", which is BTW a kind of
"o".
This letter is used in many orthographies, especially in Africa (see e.g.
http://www.bakweri.com/2004/03/the_mokpe_alpha.html), and
therefore call it "African UFE" would be a better hint.
I would guess that this is one of those relatively rare canton-less
Fante Asafo _frankaa_ (see gh_asaf3.html), but I may be
wrong.
Note that there's question marks for the date and regiment, not for the
spurious and baseless attribution to Russia.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 April 2007
images by Rob Raeside
I recently came across two flags that I was told were possibly WWII
Naval Japanese flags. They are supposed to be some sort of signal flags from
what I was told.
Rick Thompson, 5 May 2007
image located by Ned Smith, 20 May 2007
The Nov 27, 2006, online edition of Christian Post has an article on the
small Protestant congregation in Turkey. Included in the article is a photo of
what is described as "a Protestant flag" next to the Turkish flag.
www.christianpost.com/article/20061127/23701.htm.
The flag is white, with 2 adjoining squares in the center, outlined
in black. Both boxes have white backgrounds. In the square toward the
hoist side is a black Latin cross, with a gold shroud draped over the
cross piece and passing in front of the upright. Surrounding the top
of the upright are red flames. The square toward the fly side bears
within it a 4-part logo, consisting of four smaller black-bordered
squares, arranged into an intermediated sized square. Starting at the
top, fly side (which is on the viewer's left in this photo) and going
clockwise:
-the first part is a white Latin cross tilted slightly to the left,
and extending onto the border, with a rose-colored background;
-a white chalice, tilted to the right to form a diagonal on a blue
background;
-a gold crown tilted slightly to the left on a light, indeterminate
background;
-and a white dove in flight, shown in profile flying to the right on
a yellow background
I suspect that this is not some sort of flag for Protestantism in
general but specific to a particular denomination. The congregation
profiled in the article is affiliated with the International church
of the Foursquare Bible. While the flag in the photo does not
correspond to the flag of that denomination, the 4 part logo
on the UFE is a variant of the logo of that denomination (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Foursquare.jpg
) and I suspect
this either: an alternative flag for the denomination; a flag for
Foursquare churches in Turkey, or a flag specifically for this
congregation.
Ned Smith, 20 May 2007
photo by Robert Dean
I have recently bought a watercolour, mid 19 century, of a yacht flying
the White Ensign (post 1801) save that the vertical bar of the St George's Cross
is blue, not red. The vessel also has a Flag Officer's pennant with the blue
vertical bar, and otherwise a red cross on a white background. Any ideas? Many
thanks.
Robert Dean, 16 June 2007
I have no information about a White Ensign with a blue vertical arm on the St
George's Cross (and no burgees of current yacht clubs appear show such a
device), however, various White Ensigns of the St George's type were in use by
yacht clubs between 1829 and 1842. According to Perrin (PP 137-9) The Royal
Yacht Club (later the Royal Yacht Squadron of course) received a Warrant in 1829
and still flies the White Ensign, while the Royal Western, the Royal Thames, the
Royal Southampton, the Royal Eastern and the Gibraltar Yacht Club had their's
withdrawn on 22 July 1842. Due to an oversight the Royal Western Yacht Club of
Ireland was missed and continued to fly theirs (which had a crown and wreath of
shamrock in the centre) until 1859.
Christopher Southworth, 20 June 2007
The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania's burgee is white with a bi-colour St
George's cross. In this case it is the vertical arm that is red and the
horizontal arm that is blue, with a crown at the centre of the cross. The club
was founded in 1880 as the Derwent Yacht Club. It was not granted the title
'royal' until 1910, so it is unlikely that the burgee bore a crown before that,
and it may possibly have differed in other ways.
David Prothero, 22 June 2007
I have several new flags that I don't know what they are. Can you help
please? They are all 100% cotton 2' x 3', and they have a number RN32335.
(1) solid blocks red, black, orange, green.
(2) yellow, navy blue, yellow, orange.
(3) navy blue, yellow, black, orange.
(4) white, navy blue, yellow, orange.
(5) orange, navy blue, orange, navy blue.
They are all new unused any idea. What they were for?
Mr. Flag, 4 June 2007
image by Rob Raeside
I am looking at flag on Mettloch German beer stein that is red and
white -- red stripe diagonally forms an red X with red star in left
quarter. Any idea what it stands for?
Lutzdk, 12 June 2007
image by Michael Skowitz, 13 Feb 2003
I have a particular flag (3`x5`) that was given to me by a friend in the
military who served in Germany, where he bought the flag. Neither he nor I know
what it is but upon researching the FOTW site we have found that the black,
white, red was the old German flag and the flag perhaps could be a reference to
old Germany. The flag has a cross on it. I have recreated the flag, and enclosed
in the email an image of it. I would be grateful of any help.
Michael Skowitz, 13 Feb 2003
It might be a proposal for a warflag of the North German Federation
(Norddeutscher Bund) drawn by Prince Adalbert. You can see five similar examples
on p.65 of source but not this one.
Source: Jörg-M. Hormann; Dominik Plaschke: "Deutsche Flaggen Geschichte,
Tradition, Verwendung", Bielefeld/Hamburg 2006; ISBN 3-89255-555-5
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 12 June 2007
I am pretty sure that it is nothing like this. All the proposals by Prince
Adalbert are different, usually including fimbriated crosses. Furthermore, I
don't think that one can buy these flags in cloth form anywhere. The size
information given by the original contributor does give me suspicions, too
(3'x5'): we don't produce flags by feet. For an identification we would
certainly need a good photograph of the flag, more information of the provenance
and some idea of the flagmaker (some stamp somewhere, for instance).
Marcus Schmöger, 12 July 2007
image provided by Lee Andrews, 27 July 2007
I wish to identify a Shipping Line house flag. The flag is white, with a blue
cross, red diamond, and a crown.
Lee Andrews, 27 July 2007
I briefly saw a flag I'm trying to identify, it was all yellow with a red
cross crossing it and in the top right corner was some sort of green emblem. Any
ideas what type of flag it could be?
Submitted to Albert S. Kirsch as an AllExperts question, 31 July 2007
submitted by Kelli Ann Hartmann, 1 August 2007
It is a white rectangle that has royal blue, orange, and yellow. The orange and
blue start on the left side on opposite corners and slightly curve in all the
way to the end. It reminds me of asymptotes on a graph, or of the base of a
torch. The yellow starts almost right after the orange and blue on the left
side, but it is between the two colors, and goes all the way to the other side.
Kelli Ann Hartmann, 1 August 2007
image submitted by Kathleen Audet, 3 August 2007
I have been trying to identify the three flags on this gold encrusted cup and
saucer set manufactured by the Cauldon China Company of England and distributed
by Higgins and Seiter of New York. The name of the boat/ship is hard to read -
preceded by Q. Was told Q Ships were disguised as merchantmen but actually armed
. Or does the Q mean Queen. The name after the Q appears to be something like
Coranter or Corunter. The Cauldon pattern number Z 2824 appears on the bottom.
Kathleen Audet, 3 August 2007
The blue pennant with the red cross and the white star is the pennant of the New
York Yacht Club. See http://nyyc.org. I guess
that the two other ones have to bee found somewhere in New York, too.
Ivan Sache, 4 August 2007
image submitted by Roger Moyer, 6 August 2007
From a Canadian stamp company auction (vanceauctions.com)
described thus:
89, Tied by 1909 RPO cancel on rare PATRIOTIC POSTCARD depicting "THE CANADIAN
UNION JACK" flag. Previous owner said this is an unrecorded patriotic postcard
design! Addressed to United States. VF, crease at LR
Roger Moyer, 6 August 2007
It seems more than likely to me it is has a connection with freemasonry. The
handshake beneath the tree, and especially the eye, are classic Masonic symbols.
The device above the handshake looks as though it could be a beavers' lodge, but
that might suggest that freemasons have a sense of humour. However, can anyone
suggest what the three colours of light blue, yellow and red might represent?
André Coutanche, 9 August 2007
My hypothesis is that this is the initials on the badge are MLOP for "Many
Lands, One People".
Miles Li, 9 August 2007
If so, this was the name of a political movement for some form of imperial
federation throughout the British Empire in the late 19th - early 20th century.
So the time is right, as is the suggestion that it is a "patriotic flag". It
doesn't explain the Masonic symbolism, though, or the fact that it was
registered with the Department of Agriculture - an unlikely place for a flag to
be registered, I would have thought.
James Dignan, 9 August 2007
If the initials do stand for "Many lands, one people" then the handshake would
seem a perfectly appropriate symbol for intercommunal amity without having to
invoke any Masonic connection. And as for the eye, it appears to be of some
furred animal, not human. Would that have any Masonic significance?
Ned Smith, 9 August 2007
There was an article with that title in the July 1891 issue of the periodical
Greater Britain, which advocated some sort of Imperial Union, [cited in an 18
August 1891 letter from Sir Theophilus Shepstone to H. Rider Hagtgard; see "The
Days of My Life Volume II (1926)", Sir H. Rider Haggard
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300141.txt. However, from the context of
the postcard, with the provincial names on the maple leaves, it seems to be
applying the phrase (if in fact that's what the initials mean) strictly to
Canada and not to the whole empire... so it might be viewed as a case of
adaptive reuse.
There are 11 maple leaves shown. I can't make out the topmost. The others are (I
think) MAN, ONT, QUE, NS, NB, PEI, ALB, SAS, BC, NWT. But the one at the top of
the tree looks like COM or CON (definitely not CAN). Can anybody tell what it
stands for? And was it the flag or the postcard which was registered with the
DoA (strange bureaucratic placement in either case).
Ned Smith, 9 August 2007
I don't for a minute buy the idea that that eye is anything other than human.
You could certainly argue that it is surrounded by a non-white skin (though it's
a blue eye), and you could also argue that one of the hands in the handshake is
darker than the other. This would certainly fit with the general idea of unified
cultural diversity - though hardly of 'One People'. But the 'Many Lands, One
People' philosophy - as I understand it - was Empire-wide, so a
Canadian-specific version is almost a contradiction in terms. Let us note the
obvious other bit of symbolism - the combination of British and French colours -
though we then need to explain why the French colours are slanted. If the eye is
Masonic, then we have to explain 'MLOP' and the blue-yellow-red bands around the
circle. If it's essentially an 'MLOP'-inspired flag, then we have to explain the
eye and the bands.
You also ask about the top leaf and its abbreviation; I can't really answer
(unless it's 'confederation'??), but I can confuse the picture even more -
according to Wiki, at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada#Provinces_and_territories, Alberta and
Saskatchewan weren't even provinces in 1904, the date shown for this flag
(though I guess they could have been seen to be en route).
André Coutanche, 9 August 2007
I sent an email to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the current form of the
Department of Agriculture. Their reply is as follows:
"The Department of Agriculture Act, which received Royal Assent on May 22, 1868,
assigned, in addition to Agriculture, the following subjects
to be under the control and direction of the Department of Agriculture:
Immigration and Emigration
Public Health and Quarantine
The Marine and Emigrant Hospital at Québec
Arts and Manufactures
The Census, Statistics and the Registration of Statistics
Patents of Invention
Copyright
Industrial Designs and Trademarks
As federal departments were created to take over these subjects, they left the
Agriculture portfolio. The last to go, in 1918, were Patents of Invention,
Copyrights, Trademarks and Timber Marks, Industrial Design, Public Health and
Quarantine. At Confederation there was already a well established Department of
Agriculture with the infrastructure to handle the assigned duties, and also, at
the time, immigration and public health had a great many quarantine issues
attached which included animals and animal health and products and plants and
plant health and products, so there would have been quite a degree of connection
to these and matters agricultural."
So it seems that the registration of printed matter was a combination of a
number of factors; i) the Dept of Agriculture could handle the workload, and ii)
Often, the matter had some relevance to agriculture, so the Department could
keep on top of new developments. I have a book on the history of Western Canada
published in 1906, registered with Agriculture.
Georges G. Kovari, 10 August 2007
I also contacted Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada who suggested it might be a
part of a flag-design contest, but there's no documentation to support this.
Given the dates on the postcard, and from the abbreviations on the maple leaves
of the tree, that idea (of a contest) isn't such a bad one! Included in those
abbreviations are 9 provinces and 1 territory - all that had been formed at that
particular time. The beaver design is quite similar to early postage stamps and
even some current coins, which would be consistent with a patriotic use of that
symbol in a context.
Bob Hunt, 10 August 2007
images provided by Sal Giglia, 21 August 2007
Enclosed are shots of a painting containing a flag...any thoughts? I thought it
could be Bohemia-Moravia but that flag is too young for this boat. The boat is I
believe a opium trade boat of the 19th century when it was fashionable for the
French and English to frequent such exotic trips to the Mideast.
Larger images can be seen at
http://www.flagid.org/vexphotos/ufe/DSC04706.JPG and
http://www.flagid.org/vexphotos/ufe/DSC06532.JPG.
Sal Giglia, 21 August 2007
Possibilities are Schaumburg-Lippe or
Slovakia 1848-1868, when the order of the stripes
wasn't fixed to W-B-R. Both are in the time frame, but are a bit unexpected.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 21 August 2007
At Saturday's "Last Night of the Proms" in Royal Albert Hall I saw a flag,
which I couldn't identify. It was dark blue, surrounded by small red and white
bars. The central figure was an undressed lady (virgin?), standing on a golden
disc (son, moon??). A white ribbon covered her nudity in smart fashion. Can
anybody tell me, which flag this was?
Thomas Binder, 10 September 2007
images submitted by Julian Purser, 12 September 2007
I have been searching your site, but have been unable to trace the three
attached house flags. Have you any ideas please?
Julian Purser, 12 September 2007
image by Clay Moss, 3 October 2007
I was watching Al Jazeera tonight and this flag popped up flying over a big
mosque looking building. The camera stayed on the flag for a while, so I got a
good look at it. I couldn't understand anything being said, but if I were a
guessing man, I would say that story was coming out of Algeria or maybe Tunisia.
Clay Moss, 3 October 2007
image by Eugene Ipavec, 4 October 2007
Quite recently I saw some new footage of President Ahmadinejad inspecting a
parade, with a flag just behind him. This time I got a better look; the flag was
green, with a wide black border, itself bordered in gold. In the two fly corners
there were Iranian national emblems, also gold, tilted 45 deg. - I assume these
were also at the hoist, but the flag was partially furled. In the bottom fly
corner there was an Iranian flag, also tilted 45 deg. This may also have been at
all corners. Most of the green field was taken up by a large golden piece of
calligraphy, which I here represent purely symbolically. It looked more angular
than this, possibly Kufic-style. Also note that this bears a certain modest
resemblance to the "Official Flag" of Hezbollah.
Eugene Ipavec, 4 October 2007
image provided by hrothgar01usa, 1 November 2007
There is a series of articles on BBC's website, bbc.com, that describes a
journey through Bangladesh to ascertain the effects of changing climatic
patterns. In one photo, there are two unknown flags. I have uploaded this photo
to the Photos section of the group. Any ideas as to what this is?
hrothgar01usa, 1 November 2007
image provided by Anita Russell, 12 November 2007
I am trying to identify some shipping line flags but 2 are being very
elusive.
Anita Russell, 12 November 2007
My eccentric mother of 80 years sent me a flag in the mail (for what reason, I
can only guess Christmas), and she does not know what the flag represents. It is
horizontal striped, tri-colored, much like Bolivia, but has the colors in this
order: Yellow-Orange-Green, or Green-Orange-yellow. I have looked at every flag
picture I can find on the FOTW website and am out of leads. It is too orange to
be red, and is a well made 3x5 [feet], nylon, maybe as early as the 70's i would
guess. There is no maker marks, just a "3x5" stamped on the white binding with
brass grommets. She probably picked it up at a yard sale or thrift store, and
there is no telling why she found it interesting enough to buy. She lives in
Central Minnesota, and I don't think it is a college flag, but one never knows,
maybe a high school or car dealership thing, but the colors don't make sense for
high school.
Jerry Nelson, 20 December 2007
Scattered throughout the site are many other unidentified flags. Here is a partial list if you want to test yourself!
