Category: Posts

St Nicholas’ Three Gold Coins

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The non-profit St. Nicholas Center (stnicholascenter.org) hosts material "to educate people of faith, and the wider public, about the true St. Nicholas, and why he is important in today's world".  Of interest to vexillologists is their page and database St. Nicholas in Civic Heraldry, which lists coats of arms of dozens of "cities, villages, towns, districts, churches, and… Continue reading St Nicholas’ Three Gold Coins

Flags in The Force Awakens

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Flags make a couple of brief appearances in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. One is in this scene that draws upon the Nuremberg rally imagery from Lene Riefenstahl's infamous Nazi propaganda film, 1935's Triumph of the Will: The flag in the background belongs to the First Order, featuring its emblem of 16 bars radially arranged within… Continue reading Flags in The Force Awakens

More Star Wars Fan Flags

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Scott Kelly isn't the only Star Wars fan who has been hard at work designing flags.  This month's flag design contest in Reddit's /r/vexillology community had this prompt: It is a period of flag design. Aspiring vexillographers, illustrating from around the world, have won victories throughout the year. During this month, your task is to… Continue reading More Star Wars Fan Flags

Gadsdenoids

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The Gadsden Flag has been endlessly reinterpreted, modified, parodied, and generally played with, as the following examples show.  The design violates a number of basic principles of good flag design, but its ability to capture the imagination and spur creativity shows it to have become a very effective flag nevertheless. Amplifications: Specific "rights": Porcupines: Simplifications: Parodies:… Continue reading Gadsdenoids

What Does a Gadsden Flag Look Like?

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Yesterday we asked: Who designed the Gadsden Flag?  And just as we can't be certain of the designer, neither do we know what the original flag actually looked like.  Nevertheless, the flag marketplace, and cyberspace, has converged on, basically, a single design.  (This suggests a common origin, but we couldn't pin it down to an artist, enterprise,… Continue reading What Does a Gadsden Flag Look Like?

Who Designed the Gadsden Flag?

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The "Gadsden" of "Gadsden Flag" fame is Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina (and not his grandson James Gadsden of Gadsden Purchase fame). In late 1775 the colonel was a member of the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress charged with outfitting the ships of the nascent Continental Navy. Part of that activity involved coming… Continue reading Who Designed the Gadsden Flag?