Flags: Nigeria & Guyana

U.N. New York, Page 82.2 (BL-1)

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For designing a flag, the North American Vexillological Association recommends a booklet by Ted Kaye called, Good Flag, Bad Flag. Based on it’s criteria, Nigeria and Guyana flags are very good. The following analysis uses Ted Kaye booklet for that assessment:

Keep It Simple

The flags of Belgium and Ireland are simple: three bands of colors. However, they look very much like other country flags: Belgium looks similar to Germany; Ireland is often mistaken for Italy. Austria and Nigeria are simple and unusual in that they use two colors for three bands. However, Austria is too much like the Poland flag, which is just one white and one red band. Nigeria is unusual in that it’s using a pair of colors for three bands that no one else is using: green and white.

Use Meaningful Symbolism

Swaziland includes tribal images, making it meaningful and unique, but it’s too cluttered and difficult to draw. Seychelles uses the common tri-color style, but makes t he bands wavy to symbolize water – which they may be completely under one day.

Use a Few Basic Colors

The ones with the least amount of colors are Austria and Nigeria. As mentioned above, the colors are the same and the pattern similar to Poland, making it not completely recognizable from a distance in battle – a factor in Kaye’s criteria. Nigeria’s flag, though, is unique and the colors basic enough that you’d know which country it is even if not fully layed out like it is here.

No Lettering or Seals

Albania has its double-headed eagle crest, which is shared with other nations. Burma, Cape Verde, and Dominica have their seals or something similar.

Be Distinctive or Be Related

As mentioned above, Belgium’s colors are simple but not distinct in that its similar to the German flag. However, it is distinct in that it’s square and not rectangular. The Malasia flag, like the Liberia flag are too much like the U.S. flag, ruining it for all of them related to distinctiveness. Guyana’s flag, though, has a unique pattern and use of color. The choice of colors are still related to other African nations – making it easy to guess its location – but the pattern of elongated triangles makes it distinct.

Note

As I mentioned elsewhere, there are several album pages containing flags. Although maps can be neat, this flag series is boring – which was issued only from New York and not from Geneva or Vienna. I’ve tried to make it interesting by doing a critique of some of the flags, pointing out which are well done and which aren’t very good.

Contains 16 spots: own 16 – 16 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jun 11, 2025

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Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Flag Series

1.1	✓	379	Albania	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
1.2	✓	374	Austria	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
2.1	✓	388	Belgium	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
2.2	✓	385	Burma	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
2.3	✓	386	Cape Verde	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
3.1	✓	380	Dominica	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
3.2	✓	387	Guyana	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
3.3	✓	377	Ireland	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
4.1	✓	375	Malaysia	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
4.2	✓	378	Mozambique	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
4.3	✓	384	Nicaragua	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
5.1	✓	389	Nigeria	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
5.2	✓	382	Philippines	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
5.3	✓	376	Seychelles	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
6.1	✓	381	Solomon Islands	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
6.2	✓	383	Swaziland	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor

Footnotes

• Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).

• Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.

• Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.

• To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.

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