^{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, but which we have been unable to recognise. If you can identify any of these flags, please let us know! Contact the director.

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

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

Flag at Thames Frost Fair, London

Here is a flag from an illustration of London river Thames in ice in the XIXth century. Here is the text around the picture:
A FROST FAIR ON THE THAMES. BEFORE SIR JOSEPH BAZALGETTE BUILT THE EMBANKMENTS IN THE 1840s THE THAMES WAS WIDER, SHALLOWER AND FLOWED MORE SLOWLY. THUS IT SOMETIMES FROZE OVER IN COLD WINTERS AND QUITE LARGE FAIRS COULD BE HELD ON THE ICE.
What is this flag ?
Thierry Gilabert, 30 December 2003

Malatee?

by Jaume Ollé

From an old Japanese plate dated 1876. I can't identify this country (Malatee). It is probably related with Bengala (flag of the nawab of Bengala?)
Jaume Ollé, 17 Jan 2000

If this is what I think it is, Malatee is the old name for Malatya, a city high in the mountains of central Turkey. It was the site of an infamous massacre of Armenians during or around the time of World War One. Could this be where the flag is from?
James Dignan, 26 August 2003

I cannot give an exact answer but most probably this flag has nothing to do with Malatya. First, Jaume Ollè says that it is from an "old Japanese plate". It is not so likely a Turkish symbol is on such an item in year 1876. Second, although I cannot say that I'm an expert in Turkish symbolism, I can say that the flag does not "seem to have" Turkish figures. Third, in Turkey and in this part of the world, there is no a strong flag tradition like in the west. In the Ottoman Empire, I know that there are flags of some distant administrative units. I don't think that a city flag existed. Perhaps it can be claimed that it is the symbol of a religious or social group in Malatya (or in all Anatolia). But it won't be far than speculation. The date of the plate (1876) and that of the so-called "Armenian massacre" (1895) are not far away. Did you mention it because you think that there can be a relation or just to give information about the city? In short, my opinion is that Bengala or another far- eastern origin is much more probable.
Onur Özgün, 16 February 2004

I've done a little more searching in an old encyclopedia to look for other possibilities, and I note a Malate in the Phillipines, which is now a central part of the city of Manila. I suppose it's possible it might be connected with that...?
James Dignan, 16 February 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

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

Unidentified flag in Kanthy-Mansiyisk

During the women's sprint race of the biathlon world championships, which took place yesterday in Kanthy-Mansiyisk, a supporter waved an orange flag with the white writing C C <. Any idea of the meaning of this flag?

Ivan Sache, 16 March 2003

Probably far from the point, but it seems to be that it could be some company flag, possibly some big sponsor - say a cell phone company...

Zeljko Heimer, 17 March 2003

Taiwanese vertical flag

I have a flag that I don't know what it is and I can't find it on your site....I was wondering if you knew what it was?

Niles

Yacht club flag on tie-clip

This burgee flag was found as an enamel tie-clip: a white triangular field, blue saltire, with a blue star in the hoist triangle.
Bob, 5 March 2003

Flag seen at Oxford and Cambridge boat race

Near the finish line at the Oxford-Cambridge rowing race, 2003, a rectangular 1:2 flag made of seven vertical black and white stripes was hoisted on a building. What could it be? A university flag, a yacht-club flag, a sponsor's flag, anything else?
Ivan Sache, 6 April 2003

The college colours of both Trinity Hall (not "Trinity College," that's a different one), Cambridge, and Magdalen College, Oxford, are black and white stripes. Also, the Cantabrigian (Cambridge) Boat Club colours are dark blue and silver, which could possibly have been mistaken for black and white (?). Having said that, colleges do have their own special flags, usually with the college arms on them - they don't usually just fly simple flags with the college stripes. But maybe the college boat clubs *do* just fly simple striped flags.
Kieron Merrett, 24 September 2003

Vertical navy blue and white bars are the racing colours of London Rowing Club, based on the Thames at Putney, the start of the annual boat race.
Lionel Willis, 17 February 2004

Red-blue-red flag with white cross

Can you help me identify a flag? The middle panel is blue, the outer panels are red. It's a dark blue and a dark red. The x is within the center panel, and it's really like a bold "plus sign" turned on its diagonal. The flag is hanging in a window of a house here in Newport News, VA USA. Frankly, I thought I recognized it as a white supremacist flag used by someone such as the World Church of the Creator. That's what made me want to look it up, rather than just knock on the door and ask. But, of course, my first thought could turn out to be 100-percent wrong.

Dan Montgomery, 31 January 2003

It's not the WCC flag (a red swallow-tailed flag with a crowned and haloed W on white disc). It resembles the flag of Amsterdam in a curious way. I suggest "Plan B", which is actually knocking on the door and asking; this looks to me like it might be a personal flag.

Al Kirsch, 1 February 2003

Reverse Danish-like flag

The flag I am trying to identify is red. It has a thin white line running across the center horizontally. About 75% of the way to the right there is a thin white vertical line. The flag looks similar to a mirror image of the Danish flag, except the lines are thinner and the dimensions are more rectangular. I have no idea what kind of flag this could be (country, state, war, maritime, political), but would greatly appreciate any help in identifying it. Thanks for any assistance!

Wellen Reiter, 22 December 2002

Green cross, yellow field, red borders WW II(?) flag

My father brought back from Europe, post WW II a gonfalon approx. 3 feet x 4 feet (1 x 1.3 m) with a green cross on yellow field, with wide red borders top and bottom. No national markings on the hoist. Wool. Rigging loop and plain 6" rigging line at bottom, so probably naval. The closest thing current that it resembles is the international "R" (romeo).
Can you help me figure this out. He was in the UK, France and Germany in 1942-45. thank you!

John Bracher, USA, 22 September 2002

German flag on eBay

An unidentified flag posted for sale on eBay, September 2002.
Jarig Bakker, 23 September 2002

I cannot definitely identify that flag, but it must have something to do with Brandenburg, because the red eagle is that of Brandenburg. The black and white stripes indicate the colours (black and white) of Prussia.
Olof v. Randow, 8 June 2003

The Flag labelled as "German flag on eBay" belongs to the "Brandenburger Sport-und Ruderklub von 1883 e.V." ("Sport-and Rowing-Club of Brandenburg"). "Brandenburg" in this case means the city "Brandenburg an der Havel" ("Brandenburg on the Havel river"). The Eagle is that of the German state "Brandenburg", which spreads over parts of the former state "Preussen" ("Prussia").
Dennis, 8 July 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

Three axes flag at World Cup

During the World Cup final (2002: Brazil vs.Germany), around the 50th minute was seen on TV a white flag with three red axes. It looked more German than Brazilian. Is anyone to identify it?
Ivan Sache, 1 July 2002

The website at http://www.mindspring.com/~debard/bardeleben.htm shows a three-axes flag that might give a lead.

Ewald Mertins, 28 August 2002

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 Fahnen / Flaggen