COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic United States of America National Flag 58mm (1990s)

4th of July marks the Independence day of the United States of America.  I will not rehash here information on the independence day but will list some fun facts instead after the photos .

Fun facts from this article: 4th of July by the Numbers from history.com and 10 Interesting 4th of July Facts from todayifoundout.com

• 150 Million hotdogs are consumed during the celebrations enough to stretch from D.C. to L.A. more than five times
• On this day, 80% will attend a BBQ, picnic or cookout, 76% get together with family, 66% display an American flag, 63% will attend a fireworks display, 32% will attend a fourth of July parade and 26% will set-off their own fireworks.
• The 4th of July Parade in Bristol Rhode Island is the oldest continuous celebration dating back to 1785.
• According to Caesar Cardini's daughter, the Caesar salad was invented on July 4th. Yes! Caesar salad is not related to Julius Caesar from Roman times! hahaha!
• John Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence and penned the largest signature in the document.
• In 1781, Massachusetts became the first state to declare July 4th as a state holiday. 
• Independence day celebrations became more popular and widespread after the war of 1812.
• Congress declared July 4 Independence Day as a federal legal holiday in 1941.
• Three U.S. Presidents died on July 4th, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826 and James Monroe died five years later in 1831.
• John Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the USA was born on July 4th 1872.

References:

http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/july-4th/interactives/4th-of-july-by-the-numbers

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/06/4th-of-july-facts/

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Romania National Flag 58mm (1990s)

The national flag of Romania is a tricolour with an aspect ratio of 2:3 (width-to-length) and has equal vertical stripes of blue, yellow and red.

The colors represent the principalities of the two largest regions (Wallachia and Moldavia) in Romania which united along with Transylvania to form the Kingdom of Romania in 1881. Red and yellow represent the principalities of  Wallachia; and red and blue represent the principalities of Moldavia.  In 1821, for the first time a meaning was attributed to them: Liberty (sky blue), Justice (field yellow) and Fraternity (red)

The tricolour was first adopted in Wallachia in 1834 but the order of the colors were changed.  In June 1848, the revolutionaries that year adopted a flag with horizontal stripes of blue, yellow and red for Wallachia.  The following month, July 1848, a decree was passed changing the horizontal stripes to vertical stripes with the same order of colors.  Then in 1866, under Article 124 of the 1866 Constitution of Romania provided the current design of the national flag with the order and placement of the colors later decided by the Assembly of Deputies in 1867.  

Some odd facts about this tricoloured flag. The Romanian flag is very similar to the flags of two countries - Andorra (which is a sovereign landlocked microstate in Southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France) and Chad (which is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest and Niger to the west. It is the fifth largest country in Africa in terms of area).  The flag of Andorra has the same shades of color except it has a coat of arms in the middle.  The flag of Chad is very similar on a different shade of blue which is a bit darker.  This caused an international discussion in 2004 but neither countries changed their flags.

The official pantone colors of the flag of Romania are blue (280c), yellow (116c) and red (186c).

References:
http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?id=371
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3626821.stm
www.wikipedia.com

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Ireland National Flag 58mm (1990s)

Republic of Ireland (or Ireland) is a sovereign state in western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, located in the eastern part of the island, whose metropolitan area is home to around a third of the country's 4.6 million inhabitants.

The national flag of Ireland is also known as the Irish tricolour.  It is a rectangular flag with an aspect ratio of 1:2 (width-to-length) and has equal areas of three colors - green, white and orange.

The colors symbolizes aspects of Irish traditions.  The green represents the Gaelic tradition of Ireland (the Nationalists), the orange represents the followers of William of Orange in Ireland (the Unionist) and the white represents the aspiration for peace between them.

The flag was first used in 1916 during the Easter Rising when it was raised above the General Post Office building in Dublin.  It was subsequently adopted by the Irish Republic during the Irish War of Independence from 1919-1921.  It was later given constitutional status under the 1937 Constitution of Ireland.

Reference: all accessed 5 January 2015
http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Historical_Information/The_National_Flag
http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/Pdf%20files/The%20National%20Flag.pdf
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/symbols/flags.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ireland

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Greece National Flag 58mm (2000s)

Every year at the 25th of March, Greece celebrates the anniversary of the declaration of the start of Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1821. The Greek War of Independence was waged between 1821 to 1832 and resulted to the successful independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.

The flag of Greece is officially recognized as a national symbol.  It is rectangular flag with an aspect ratio of 2:3 and has 9 equal horizontal stripes of alternating blue and white.  There is a blue square in the upper left corner which has a white cross in the center.  The white cross symbolizes the Eastern Orthodox Christianity which is the established religion for the Greek people of Greece and Cyprus.  It was officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January 1822.

You can buy this SAK from www.voyager-shop.gr.

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic South Korea National Flag 58mm (2000s) -March 1

The National Flag of South Korea is called Taegukgi or Taeguk flag. It has a 2:3 height to width proportion with white background, and red and blue Taeguk (red and blue Yin-Yang symbol) in the center and four black trigrams.

The black trigrams have several meanings depending on the classical elements.  Table below from the South Korea National Flag wikipedia page lists the various meanings:

Each trigram (hangul: kwae) represents one of the four classical elements.  Source: www.wikipedia.org

The idea of the National Flag was first brought up during the negotiations of the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876, during this time, there was no official Korean flag to represent the country.  This is re-emerged again during the United States-Korea Treaty of 1882.  This time, Ma Jianzhong, a Chinese official and scholar in the late Qing Dynasty proposed the initial design of the Korean Flag with a red and black yin-yang (instead of the red and blue). On August, 1882, Park Yeong-hyo, a Korean politician, diplomat and activist during the Joseon Dynasty period became the first Korean to use the National flag internationally in Japan.  By January 27, 1883, the government official recognized the use of the flag.

Old Korean National Flag. Source: www.wikipedia.org

The current South Korea national flag was official declared by the South Korean government on 15 October 1959.

Today, 1st of March is a special day in South Korea which marks the March 1st Movement or Samil Movement when 33 Korean nationalists and students declared their country's independence in Seoul from the Japanese Occupation. This provided a catalytic momentum for the Korean Independence Movement which eventually led to the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (April 13, 1919).

This particular Victorinox Classic has a product code of 0.6203.KR0 and was released in 2000s as part of the expanded Victorinox National Flag series collection.

References:
www.wikipedia.org.

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Belgium National Flag 58mm (1990s)

The national flag of Belgium is a rectangular flag with an official aspect ratio of 13:15 (width-to-length) but it is usually used in a 2:3 aspect ratio in practice.  It has equal vertical stripes of three colors - black, yellow and red.  The colours of the Belgium flag were adopted from the colours of the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant which came into existence in 1190 and once formed a Belgian province also known as Brabant.

In 1830, the flag was originally composed of horizontal stripes of red (top), yellow and black (bottom), which was flown from the city hall of Brussels at the start of the Belgian Revolution.  On January 1831, the stripes were changed from horizontal to vertical (as nod to the French flag) and on October of the same year, the Black was placed on the hoist side and attain its modern form.

Since Belgium is a federal state, the national flag and the flags of the communities or regions occupy the same rank in principle.  But in practice, when the flags are raised or lowered or carried in procession, the national flag takes precedence over all others.

Current collection as of 28 January 2015:

References:
www.wikipedia.com

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic New Zealand National Flag 58mm (1990s)

The New Zealand national flag is based on the Blue Ensign flag of the United Kingdom with four red stars to the right with white border representing the Southern Cross (Constellation of Crux). This flag was designed and adopted for restricted use in 1869 and became the national flag in 1902.  There is a two-stage binding referendum on a flag change and is expected to take place in 2015 and 2016.  This current flag might be replaced soon!

My flag collection as of 19/12/2014.

References:
www.wikipedia.com
NZ Ministry of Culture and Heritage accessed 9/12/2014
First steps taken towards flag referendum accessed 9/12/2014

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Portugal National Flag 58mm

The Portuguese Republic is a nation-state in Europe located in the Iberian Peninsula next to Spain.  In the 15th and 16th century, during the Age of Discovery, Portugal became one of the world's major economic, political and military power with a well established naval force which allowed them to venture around the world.  At some point during that era, Portugal and Spain divided the world among themselves.

The flag of Portugal (bandeira de Portugal) is the national flag of the Portuguese Republic.  It is rectangular, 2:3 stripped bicolor - green and red, with the lesser coat of arms of Portugal - armillary sphere and national shield, centered over the color boundary.

This Victorinox Classic model was part of the original release of the National Flag series with a model no. of 0.6203.PT7.

Current Lineup as of 8/12/2014.

References:
Portugal wiki, accessed 1/12/2014
Flag of Portugal wiki, accessed 1/12/2014

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Mexico National Flag

The flag of Mexico (Spanish: Bandera de México) is a vertical tricolor of green, white, and red with the national coat of arms charged in the center of the white stripe.  

Red, white, and green are the colors of the national liberation army in Mexico. The central emblem is the Aztec pictogram for Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), the center of the Aztec empire.  The coat of arms has had the same features throughout: an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, is perched on top of a prickly pear cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that rises above a lake. The coat of arms is derived from an Aztec legend that their gods told them to build a city where they spot an eagle on a nopal eating a serpent, which is now Mexico City. 

Viva Mexico!

Reference:
www.wikipedia.com

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Israel National Flag 58mm

The flag of Israel was adopted on October 28, 1948, five months after the establishment of the State of Israel. It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizontal blue stripes.  The symbol in the center represents the Star of David ("Magen David"), a Jewish symbol dating from late medieval Prague, which was adopted by the First Zionist Congress in 1897.

Great example of a SAK without the Victorinox Cross Shield.

* I will include information on where to buy these collectible knives so that if you want to start your own collection, you can jump start it.  This is not an endorsement of the online store/seller. Please do your own research regarding prices/delivery/etc.

I bought this Classic with Israel National flag at http://www.zahal.org.

Reference:
www.wikipedia.com

VICTORINOX COLLECTION: Victorinox National Flag Series 58mm (1990s)

Back in the 1990s, Victorinox has released a number of Collections, usually in groups of five, packaged in presentation boxes.  Of all the collection series, the National Flag collection/series is the one which captured my attention.  I think it is the fact that currently, it is hard to find all the pieces and it will keep my interest for a long time.

The original first collection: Flaggen der 5 Nachbarländer der Schweiz (1.8833.1) or the Flags of the Five Neighboring Countries of Switzerland was sold from 1995 to 2001.  It consisted of flags from Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein.

Together with the boxed collection, Victorinox also released the same series for a number of countries.  Initially, only those country's flags indicating the shell color (indicated by the purple font on the image below) were produced.  A minimum order quantity of 200 pieces was required to produce a model.  Eventually, other countries were produced and even countries not included in the original list like Romania were released (albeit later).

Although, I haven't seen all of the samples of the countries in the original list.  Even the sakwiki page doesn't have the photos for each country.

I have started collecting these small gems for a few months now and it's only two months ago that I got serious in acquiring them at a faster rate.  I now have 10 countries -- 7 brand new ones, 1 in very good condition and 2 in ok condition.  I hope to grow it more in the near future.

I would love to get the flag from my adopted country - Australia and my native country - the Philippines and other South East Asian countries in the future.  If you're reading my blog and you have one that you like to trade or sell, just leave a message. Thanks!

References:
www.sakwiki.com
Collectors and Special Editions catalog by Victorinox AG 13 July 2011

COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Indonesian National Flag 58mm

Republic of Indonesia is a country in South-East Asia made up of archipelago of thousands of islands. The national capital is Jakarta.  It has a population of over 250 million.  

There is a big Indonesian-based Swiss Army knife collectors group called INDONESIAN SWISS POCKET TOOLS LOVERS (ISPTL) in Facebook.  

My collector piece was generously traded to me by a member.  The official Victorinox item code for this particular knife is 0.6203.ID2. Thank you!

Current Lineup of my National Flag Series Collection as of 16 November 2014:

Reference:
www.wikipedia.com
SAMMLER- UND SONDEREDITIONEN Catalog