AUTHENTIC, ORIGINAL UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA FLAG, CIRCA 1912 OR SOON THEREAFTER

AUTHENTIC, ORIGINAL UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA FLAG, CIRCA 1912 OR SOON THEREAFTER

I have this 100-year-old-plus Union flag for sale. It measures about 114 x 219 centimetres.

Condition is fair. There are many perforations with loss as seen in my photographs. There is also a little soiling. Even so, this is a rare survival of a very early Union of South Africa red ensign flag.

The South African Red Ensign was used as the unofficial flag of the Union of South Africa between 1910 and 1928. The flag was a red ensign defaced with the Coat of arms of South Africa on a white disc. When the Union of South Africa was created in 1910, the only flag that had official status within it was the Union Jack as part of the British Empire. A new coat of arms was created in September of that year, with Admiralty warrants being issued in December authorising usage of the arms on a red ensign. Though they were intended for maritime usage, the South Africa Red Ensign was used on the land as a de facto national flag similar with other colonies and dominions within the British Empire. In 1912, a royal warrant was issued amending the South Africa Red Ensign so that the arms were on a white disc to bring it into line with a rule in the Admiralty Flag Book requiring the arms to be on a white disc if any part of them were the same colour as the field of the ensign. In 1915, Louis Botha raised the South Africa Red Ensign over Windhoek after the British Empire's conquest of German South-West Africa as part of the South-West Africa campaign. (Wikipedia)

See also: https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/za_1910.html

Price: R1,200