Reedereiflaggen der Welthandelsflotte

Shipping company flags of the World's Merchant Fleet

Issued by: Martin Brinkmann A.G. Zigarettenfabrik, Bremen with Lloyd brand cigarettes.
No. in set: 396
Date of issue: 1933.

Errors and Variations.

I have discovered two variations of card 177. This shows the flag of the British India Steam Navigation Company of London . The basic flag is white with a red cross. In one version, the lines of the cross are thinner and reach the right-hand corners of the flag. In the second version, the lines are thicker and meet the top and bottom edges of the flag. In a third version, the angle particularly between the two left-hand lines of the cross appears much more rounded, indicating that maybe the original correction to the printing plate didn't go too well.

Card 180 shows the flag of "Thos. and Jno. Brocklebank Ltd.". In the original version, the blue and white parts of the flag were inverted. The correction seems to have happened in several phases. Firstly the two halves of the flag were crudely overdrawn with the correct colours. The blue seems to be of a lighter shade than the original. Traces of the original blue appear to be showing through the white on the right side of the flag. In the next version, some structure has been added to the flag to make it look more like a flag than a white blob. Finally the white area has been cleaned up so that the traces of the original blue are no longer present.

Curiously, the ripples on the white part of the flag don't go right to the bottom. The reason can be seen by comparing them with the original flag. Clearly they have been transferred from the left side of the original. However the flag was shorter on the left than the right, so the ripples are not large enough.

Cards 207 and 208 appear to have caused some confusion, presumably due to the similar names of the companies. One card shows the Glen Line of London and the other Glen & Co. of Glasgow. Despite being from Glasgow, the latter is listed under England. I assume the flag with the Union Flag in the centre belongs to Glen Line and the "G" flag to Glen & Co.

So far, I have seen fronts and backs in the combinations listed below. It appears that for card 207, corrections were made to the front of the card without realising that the back was also wrong. The back was then corrected at a later date. Up to now I have not seen a 208 with Glen Line front and back.

Finally it should be mentioned that cards 213 and 225 exist with the pictures swapped. Both backs exist with both flags on the front. Otherwise there seem to be no changes so it appears that there was just a mix-up. Unfortunately it is not completely clear which flag belongs to which description. The text to card 213 describes it as the "Harrison Line of Liverpool" whereas 225 is the "Leith, Hull and Hamburg Steam Packet Company". This would seem to point to the picture with the Elbe lightship in the background being 225 since Hamburg is on the Elbe, but I could be wrong.

	213
	225