Last modified: 2015-05-28 by pete loeser
Keywords: ufe | unidentified flags | 2015 |
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Below is a series of images of flags that have been provided to FOTW; some we have recognized, and some we have been unable to recognize. If you can help us identify any of these flags, please let us know! Contact the: UFE Editor.
Identification Key:
#19a
#19b
Images from Jaume Ollé, 13 March 2015
I found a big photo that showed 18 flags hanging from a banister, mainly from Independentist or Autonomist movements in Solidarity on Azawad. Fifteen of these flags are well-known, but three I couldn’t identify. Photo #19a shows a purple flag with an emblem. It is next to and slightly behind Scotland's flag. Photo #19b shows two flags: one is red with a vaporous white figure and perhaps an inscription (unreadable) below. The other is white with a orange disk in center and a geometric figure within. Does anyone recognize them?
Jaume Ollé, 13 March 2015
These flags are in fact part of a political-artistic project named "New World Summit" which took place in Brussels, and not in France. "The 4th New World Summit, titled Stateless State, invites twenty stateless political organizations to a parliament constructed inside the Royal Flemish Theatre in Brussels. ...During the three day program, representatives of stateless organizations and states will discuss the meaning, potential or obstacles that the state embodies today through five consecutive segments, titled Oppressive State, Progressive State, Global State, New State and Stateless State." according to the program and all these flags can be seen in Programme of the Summit.
- The purple one is the flag of the Kurdistan Communities of Women (Komalên
Jinên Kurdistan, KJK) Also see "We Celebrate the New Year Beleiving That..." and KJK Online.
- The white one with an orange disk and a simplified boat is the flag of Woman on Waves, a Dutch pro-choice non-profit organization created in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts.
- The red one has the emblem of the Kurdistan National Congress – Kongreya Neteweyî ya Kurdistanê (KNK).
Olivier Touzeau, 21 March 2015
Image by Zoltan Horvath, 14 March 2015
The Kurdish women’s movement, the Union of Free Women (YJA), has changed its name to the Kurdistan Communities of Women (Komalen Jinen Kurdistan, KJK) in order to reorganize itself under a confederal system. The KJK is the revolutionary democratic women’s organizations and unions for action that fight against the hierarchical state-owned mentality and the liberation from its impact. Striving for mental transformation based on the ideology of women’s liberation, the mission of the KJK is the democratization of society by the autonomous organization of women. The KJK is local and universal organizations of struggle unifying strength, hearts and actions of women from Kurdistan and the Middle East for the realization of their common goals. KJK carries the responsibility to develop and implement policies for the establishment of a democratic, political society and national unity in Kurdistan by taking the democratic-confederate organization of women as its fundament.
Image by Zoltan Horvath, 14 March 2015
The Kurdish National Congress is a multi-platform National Party Kurdish groups and individual parties of all tendencies, and aims to drive or the independence of Kurdistan.
It was founded on 14 April 1985 on the initiative of the Workers Party of Kurdistan, and more are part of this game, and many others, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Zoltan Horvath, 14 March 2015
Image from Pete Loeser, 14 March 2015
Women on Waves (WoW) is an interesting Dutch organization that sponsors a ship named the Langenort to provide sexual health services to women in countries where abortion is illegal. The ship attempts to pick up the women in port, then sail out to international waters (where Dutch laws are in effect) to perform its services, including medical abortions. It was founded by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts in 1999, in order to bring safe reproductive health services, including non-surgical abortion services, such as providing contraception and reproductive counseling, to women in countries with restrictive abortion laws. Gomperts has also designed a portable gynecology unit that can be installed on other rented ships. To date the Langenort has attempted to visit Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Morocco offering the services of its specially constructed mobile clinic. It was physically blocked by Portuguese naval vessels in 2004, and has been banned in several ports, causing demonstrations by both pro-life and pro-choice protesters.
Pete Loeser, 20 March 2015
Image from George Glastris, 1 April 2014
I believe this small silk flag to be of Chinese origin as it came with an early Dragon flag as well as a KMT Nationalist flag from the estate of a man who was in China from the 1860s-80s. Any help you could give me would be wonderful.
George Glastris, 1 April 2014
Maybe this one is indeed Chinese. It is however the same flag as that one of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein used between 1865 and 1868
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 April 2015
Image from Esteban Rivera, 1 April 2015
In this link of the official website of the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania, titled "Major General Jonas Vytautas Žukas was inaugurated as Chief of Defence of Lithuania for a five-year tenure at a formal ceremony at the Cathedral Square of Vilnius, 24 July, 2014", one can see this picture with three military flags during this parade. Can someone help identify them?
Esteban Rivera, 1 April 2015
#22a
#22b
Images from Bishop Lamoureux, 15 April 2015
In Hearst Castle, a historical landmark and state park located on the Central Coast of California, there is a collection of flags hanging over the dining room. I personally cannot find anything that relates to these flags that is contemporary. It is entirely possible these flags are all made up. The closest thing I can find is this one which looks like one in the second picture (#22b), the fourth one on the left. I am pretty sure they are unrelated though. Does anybody recognize any of these flags?
Bishop Lamoureux, 15 April 2015
These are Siena Ward flags. Or rather, they are replicas of the original banners that are part of Hearst's collection.
See Palio Flags for a first introduction, though I expect none of these medieval banners will match the current ones. The banners seem to change over time, plus through the years quite a number of wards have disappeared. (There would even be some logic in these specifically being banners of wards that no longer exist.)
It would still be interesting to get good images, though, as they show more of the history of the Sienna ward banners.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 15 April 2015
It seems commonplace for these Palio flags to be displayed indoors in several places around the world. For the full list of Contrade, please see Contrade of Siena and also note the pictures captioned "Flag of Onda contrada hanging in the cathedral of Siena" and "Flag of Onda contrada hanging in the cathedral of Siena" on the same page. It is interesting to point out is that "Palio" in Italian means "Standard" (as derived from the word "stick", thus, having a banner hanging from a stick or pole, since "Palo" in Spanish, and perhaps "palum" in Latin, means "stick"). The Palio Flags derive from a horse race.
Sources: Palio di Siena and the Official Siena Website.
Esteban Rivera, 15 April 2015
A discussion of this collection of military flags on FOTW has been moved to Flags of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides Cathedral.
Image from Esteban Rivera, 15 April 2015
In this picture one can see two flagpoles from left to right, bearing four flags in total:
- First flagpole (from left to right): US flag on top, UFE (#1) on the bottom.
- Second flagpole (from left to right): Florida State flag, UFE (#2) on the bottom.
Can anyone identify these flags?
Esteban Rivera, 15 April 2015
Number #2 might be Sinister St. Augustine?
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 15 April 2015
I thought it might be the St. Augustine flag, but I'm not sure. Still, there is one more flag to identify (#1), since there are four flags in this picture.
Esteban Rivera, 15 April 2015
Images from John Yogis, 11 May 2015
I believe I can positively identify both of the UFE's in question. The first unidentified flag is the white flag charged with a circle with a tree on it flying beneath the national flag of the United States. This flag can be positively identified as that of the "Tree City USA" program as sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation. Attached please find two pictures: the first picture is of the same flags from a different perspective at Flagler College, and the second is the detail of the Tree City USA flag in question. A page about the Tree City USA program can be found on the Arbor Day website.
The second unidentified flag, the one positioned below the state flag of Florida, is indeed the flag of St. Augustine as Peter had speculated. You already have an established FOTW page for the city.
John Yogis, 11 May 2015
Image from Lee Berkovits, 29 April 2015
I have a set of plates with nautical pennants that I have not been able to identify. I would be most appreciative of any help you might be able to provide. These are marked on the back both "Cauldon/England" and also with an importer's mark for "Higgins & Seiter" of New York.
Lee Berkovits, 29 April 2015
Two of the burgees are probably the Eastern Yacht Club of Massachusetts (dexter), and the Larchmont Yacht Club of New York (sinister). The upper flag would then be the private signal of the yacht owner whose yacht(s) this crockery was made for, someone who was a member of both of those yacht clubs.
Now, here comes the problem: The Eastern is from 1870, and the Larchmont is from 1880, and both of them still exist. That's quite a long history to check for. Higgins & Seiter, appear to have been in business from 1860 to 1915, however, whereas Cauldon seem to have started using the name around 1890. Together these would somewhat limit the time frame: Ca. 1890 - 1915.
Often, such private signals are listed in the Lloyd´s registers. In this case I was able to check scans of the Lloyd´s Register of American Yachts 1902-1903, 1905-1906, and 1906 editions, but was unable to find this signal. Checking a scan of The American Yacht List 1891 - plus scans of the 1886 and 1885 editions to be sure - yielded the same result.
I´m afraid that for the moment I´ve run out of sources to check for the private signal. The course for further action, I would say, would be to contact both clubs to determine whether their membership registration go back far enough to allow checking for yacht owner who was a member of both clubs at the same time, to at least get a likely owner of this particular signal.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, April 2015
Image from Scott Hubbard , 7 May 2015
I have a Mid 19th century ship portrait painting of what appears to an American ship (3 masted barque) as it has the "Grand Luminary Star" flag. It has a swallow tail Burgee with a white "B" on a blue background which I can’t identify. The ship is unnamed. The back of the canvas has a Broadway New York stencil.
Scott Hubbard, 7 May 2015
This looks like a Bethel flag. To paraphrase the FOTW page: "Floating churches called Bethels, were started in London and vicinity about 1814. The Bethel flag first appeared in the United States on a vessel entering New York harbor in March 1821. The Bethel movement supplemented the activities of the Navy chaplains in ministering to the spiritual needs of naval personnel."
Pete Loeser, 9 May 2015
The Colors are dead on. Blueback ground with white letter B. The time period is right - Mid-19th century or so. Good spotting!
Scott Hubbard, 9 May 2015
Image from Miles Li, 24 May 2015
[Black arrow added by UFE Editor]
On the latest issue of TIME magazine (outside North America) the cover shows a large number o flags. At the bottom there is a white flag bearing a red banana-like object, which I cannot identify. Perhaps it is the flag of some remote island territory - any ideas?
Miles Li, 24 May 2015
The white flag with a red object is the flag of Easter Island, which is Rapa Nui in Polynesia. The flag is called the Reimiro flag, and the object is a decorative crescent-shaped pectoral ornament worn as an insignia of high rank.
Ralph Kelly, 24 May 2015