Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2022 December 31

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December 31

What's this flag?

On a machine to get tax refund at Gare du Nord there was this flag for Arabic. What is this red white green flag with five white stars and a yellow crescent? a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 19:50, 31 December 2022 (UTC)

Found it just after thanks to Google Images reverse search. It's a fake flag... File:Flag of Maghreb.svg a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 19:52, 31 December 2022 (UTC)

Well, that description parge claims it's fake: "This image is NOT the Flag of the Maghreb Union; it was sourced to Flags of the World, but has not been found anywhere else, including on the Maghreb Union's official website, or at their physical headquarters." But what the actual page on Flags of the World says is that this was a previous flag of the Maghreb Union. The FOTW page cites a book by Alfred Znamierowski as a source, and if that cite is correct, then "not found anywhere else" is wrong. I have not gone to the trouble of obtaining the book at a public library to check it, though. And the fact that the original poster found it used on a machine suggests that someone thinks it means something. --174.89.144.126 (talk) 00:28, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

I'll contact Gare du Nord and Eurostar and ask them. Per [1] it seems this flag was made up by a Wikipedia contributor in 2009. a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 09:33, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

The description of the older design at FOTW dates from 2002. The book cited by FOTW for this design was published in 2000.^[2] Unfortunately, there is no preview, but this predates the creation of the Commons image in 2006 (as the now deleted Flag of AMU.svg). The latter is not identical to the somewhat amateurish image at FOTW: it has slightly different, darker colours, corresponding to the colours on the flags of the member countries, and the five white stars are placed in a proper circular arc. If this was "made up", it was not made up by the Wikimedia contributor, but either by Znamierowski, or (but this seems entirely theoretical) by the contributor to FOTW fabricating a description and ascribing it to Znamierowski.  --Lambiam 10:03, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

Images with this design can be found online in several versions. I have not found any photos, though, of a real flag with this design.  --Lambiam 09:37, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

I asked here. Wait and see... a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 15:01, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

The work cited Znamierowski, Alfred (2000). Flags Through the Ages. Southwater. ISBN 1-84215-267-X. is available to borrow from Archive.org. I cannot find any reference to the Maghreb Union, or any representation of the flag in question, in it. The book was previously published as part of The World Encyclopedia of Flags. DuncanHill (talk) 21:39, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

AH! See Znamierowski, Alfred (2010). The World Encyclopedia of Flags. Southwater. p. 228. ISBN 978-1-84476-895-0. which DOES have the flag in question as the flag of the Union of Arab Maghreb, and says "The flag was adopted in 1990. The five stars represent the UAM members: Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya; the colours were taken from the flags of the member countries". DuncanHill (talk) 21:47, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

And I can confirm it's in the 2002 edition too. DuncanHill (talk) 21:49, 1 January 2023 (UTC)