^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Unidentified Flags or Ensigns

Below is a series of images of flags that have been provided to FOTW that we have been able to recognise. See also our page of Unidentified Flags to see flags we still don't know!

Naval Cap badge?

I recently came across this officers cap at a sale and I have made quite a few enquiries but nobody seems to know anything about it, some have said it looks Japanese. Have you come across this badge at all. The arm in the centre of badge is wearing armour.
Ken Katsina, 22 July 2004

This might be a merchant marine officer's cap badge rather than a naval officer's badge. The emblem in the center looks like a house flag of some sort.
Ron Lahav, 22 July 2004

The flag is the one of JOSEPH L. THOMPSON & SONS Ltd.: a famous ship yard at Sunderland, England. This company was involved in the first design of the Liberty Ships. Why did a shipyard have to use an officer cap badge? Certainly for the test & trial crew before official flagging of the new ship to her owner.
Source: Loughran (1979), page 79.
Alan Coutret, 22 October 2004

European Union flag with wheat stalks

What would this flag represent: Royal blue background, stems of wheat of gold in the middle surrounded by gold stars in a circle.
"PaniLil", 15 May 2004

Likely one of the agriculture related agencies of the EU, of which there seem to be three:

European Food Safety Authority
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (their logo appears to be a white wheat stem on a stylised blue and white map)
EU Commission on Agriculture

I couldn't find the flags of these organisations (if they have them) on the EU's website, but I'd say the third is a distinct possibility.

James Dignan, 15 May 2004

Orange - White - Blue - Yellow - Lime Green

I have someone who called me about a flag they are flying. They said it has 5 horizontal stripes of Orange - White - Blue - Yellow - Lime Green. I have no further information.
Lee Herold, 9 February 2004

A pure hypothesis, some kind of Chinese flag. There have been quite a few imperial rank flags with various colours so this arrangement might just be one we haven't got yet (especially if the orange bit is a faded red).
Marc Pasquin, 10 February 2004

Blue field - white disk on Roy Cross painting

I would like to identify a Naval flag that is depicted in a Roy Cross painting of a Clipper ship in the Arctic. The flag in question is flying at the top of the main mast, is square, has a blue field and a white circle in the centre. The only things that I can find that are similar is either the 'Blue Peter' or a pendant representing the number 2. Have you any ideas?
Austin Smith, 13 February 2004

Since a blue flag with a white circle does not appear in either Marryat's code of 1824, or in the Commercial (International) Code of Signals of 1857 - 1900 (although there is "a pendant blue with a white ball" as Austin indicates above), can we reasonably assume that it is either a private signal of some sort, or a house flag?
Christopher Southworth, 13 February 2004

A single flag at a masthead is probably a house flag rather than a signal flag. Four or five steam-ship companies had a house flag like this.
David Prothero, 14 February 2004

The flag mentioned, ( I have a copy of the print Austin is referring to) is very similar to what my family uses as a "family flag". I don't know the exact origin of this flag, but I do know the flag was used as far back as 1797 at an ancestors home in Camden County Georgia. Major Joseph Hardee was the son of a Captain John Hardy who patrolled the coast in the galley Washington.

The flag has flown at my home, Father's home, Grandfather's, etc. , for as long as I can remember. All of my vehicles also have the flag on the license plate, as did my father's. My father is gone, but I am keeping his tradition. The flag was used during the American Civil War as a battle flag with several variations, but was called the Hardee Flag.
Gourm Hardee, 9 August 2004

Football Flag in Sfax, Tunisia

by Ivan Sache

A red flag with a thin white cross and a thin white saltire was prominently displayed in the stand of the stadium of Sfax, during the quarter finals Morocco-Algeria of the Africa Nations' Cup last Sunday. The flag is probably a club supporters' flag, but I have no clue on the club it represented. The Algerian supporters outnumbered the Moroccans, but such a red flag looks, at first sight, rather Moroccan than Algerian. An element of answer might be given during the semi-finals: if the flag is still there, it is Moroccan, if it is no longer there, no straight conclusion is possible.
Ivan Sache, 9 February 2004

The football flag from Tunisia looks like a flag belonging to Wydad of Casablanca.
Neil Boulton, 24 October 2004

Sons in Service variant?

I recently acquired this flag. It reminds me of a Sons in Service flag with the red border and blue stars, but I have not seen a service flag with blue bars. Do you know what this flag actually is? It is 49 1/2" x 32 1/2" in size.

Pete Bochek, 12 May 2003

I was searching on eBay and stumbled across this Liberty Loan poster. What I'm guessing is that the number of stripes corresponds to the number of Liberty Loans a town has given to the Great War (World War I) I'm not so sure about the stars on the FOTW site. Kind of has me stumped. But I believe I have found the meaning behind the stripes.
Jonathan Backstrom, 31 March 2004

The flag (note the picture is upside down) is one of two variants I have seen of the special award flag for the Third Liberty Loan of 1918. One with the two stars and one without - the two stars indicate municipality raised three times its allotted quota. The flag of the Fourth Liberty Loan, which is similar but has 4 vertical stripes and no stars. The Liberty Loans were national efforts to raise extra money for the War effort; the loans were interest-free (at least I think so; none of the literature mentions any) funds given by US Citizens and repaid by the US Government after the War. In many cases, the loaners forgave the loan after the War.

I am unaware if the First or Second Liberty Loan Drives had any flag associated with them, but by the time of the Third Liberty Loan, organizations, corporations or municipalities could sign up many individual donors to make the target amount and get a 3'x5' flag for their efforts.

I have always thought that maybe this design is a combination of the NSF and the proposed flag of the Four Freedoms that was briefly considered as a flag for the UN before the end of the War. That flag was white with 4 vertical red bars that did not touch the edges of the flag.
Dave Martucci, 5 April 2004

Polish(?) royal banner

I am attaching an image of a cloth banner. One side is mainly Gold Wire whilst the Reverse has Silver Wire in the central part. The dimensions are approx 27 cms x 35 cm. Our best opinion is that it comes originally from the area of Europe now Poland. It may have been a Royal Banner of some kind. The age has been calculated at between 200 and 400 years old.
Peter Power-Hynes, 11 April 2003

I think (I m not sure) it is flag of Konigsberg (modern Kaliningrad).
Victor Lomantsov, 14 May 2003

Three lions St.George's flag

An unidentified flag posted for sale on eBay, 29 August 2002.
Bill Garrison, 29 August 2002

Being square, it looks like a banner of arms, either personal, civic, or corporate.
Joe McMillan, 29 August 2002

I have no definitive citation for you, but the Three Lions St. George flag looks exactly like several I have seen on TV broadcasts of England national team football (soccer) games. One sees lots of variations on the English flag at such events, and I am certain that I have seen this three-lion version as a banner hung from stadium terraces.
Scott Rogers, 20 May 2003

From http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~bcd/rolemaster/novi/her-list.txt, which seems to be a website dedicated to some sort of role-playing game, is this blazon of the arms corresponding to the "three lions St. George" shown here. "Argent, on a cross gules a lion passant between two lions' faces in pale Or.* Corporate Arms of the FOOTBALL LEAGUE, which governs English domestic competition, March 25, 1974.
Crest: On a grassy mount a football surmounted by a swift (Apus apus) volant, all proper.
Badge: In front of a chain of twelve links in the form of an annulet agent a lion tricorporate the tails of the upper two bodies in chief Or.
The Football League banner flies over Wembley Stadium."

This would account for Scott Rogers's comment on our page that he'd seen this flag flying at English national matches, although I gather that the role of the Football League is no longer what it once was.
Joe McMillan, 12 May 2004

It may have been the arms then, but it now uses a soccer ball proper surrounded by an azure and gules circular pattern (similar to a bordure compony). Above this is a crest of a lion passant gardant gules, and below are the words "The football league" in sable (that according to a picture in the Rothmans Football Yearbook 2001-2002, anyway).

The logo of the English Premier League is simply argent, a lion statant azure, with left front leg lifted, supported by a soccer ball argent and gules. The lion is crowned gules, and is standing on a base vert. The base contains the words "The F.A. Premier League" in argent between two very thin barrulets argent.
James Dignan, 12 May 2004

Not sure it does; it's a reference to his family arms, and the axes there are black. What we saw was white with three red axes. Do any of the towns mentioned on the page have arms/flag like that?

Al Kirsch, 29 August 2002

Black-blue-black flag stickers

Lately I've noticed a black - medium blue - black, arranged horizontally auto tag on many vehicles in the area around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Anyone know what this means?
John Evosevic, 3 July 2002

The Black-Blue-Black design is usually seen on a policeman's personal car or family members car. It stands for the "thin blue line". There is also a similar one with a red strip for firemen.
Jim Popovitch, 17 August 2002

The black-medium blue-black flag is actually a police mourning band. It is typically worn as a band across the badge when an officer is killed in the line of duty. I have seen it in use more frequently now as a bumper sticker, I believe this is probably a show of respect for the police officers killed on September 11th.
Troy Corwin, 26 September 2002

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I think (I m not sure) it is flag of Konigsberg (modern Kaliningrad).
Victor Lomantsov, 14 May 2003

Three lions St.George's flag

An unidentified flag posted for sale on eBay, 29 August 2002.
Bill Garrison, 29 August 2002

Being square, it looks like a banner of arms, either personal, civic, or corporate.
Joe McMillan, 29 August 2002