^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Blumenfeld (German Shipping Company)

image by Jarig Bakker, 10 Feb 2005

Bd. Blumenfeld KG aA
Norddeutsche Kohlen-und Coks Werke

See also:

Bd. Blumenfeld KG aA

The company was based in Hamburg, green - white - black triband; white disk, charged with two hammers in saltire and B^DB,all black.
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign SteamshipCompanies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26]
Jarig Bakker, 10 Feb 2005

Bernard Blumenfeld commenced in the coal trade in 1902. After WW2 the firm was restructured by his son Erik who went into politics and became an MP for the CDU Party. Shipowning appears to have ceased in 1965 with the sale of the ERIK BLUMENFELD. The flag is shown by various publications but there are small differences between them so the actual design is not clear. The black ring is agreed to by all sources found except Marine News 7/1994 which shows an undefined white circle. The hammer and mallet are generally shown in black but the Masary cigarette cards of 1930 show them with red handles whilst the Lloyd Redereiflaggen cards show a yellowish brown shade.
The main difference relates to the small "D" shown generally in upper case by British sources but in lower case by German (and Talbot-Booth and US Navy 1961). Brown 1958 actually has it as an "O". Some sources show a horizontal bar beneath this small letter, Lloyds 1912 also adds a black dot after each of the large "B"s. The 2 German cigarette card collections have two lines under the "d", omit the dots after the "B"s but show one after the "d". Otto Mathies in his 1924 "Hamburgs Reederei 1814-1914" has two lines and no dots. The Masary collection also has the flag being used by the subsidiary Norddeutsche Kohle- und Coks-Werke Akt.-Ges. [sic] .
Neale Rosanoski, 10 Apr 2010

Variant reported 1928

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider and Tomislav Todorović, 5 Aug 2019

The company was based in Hamburg. The flag was a green-white-black horizontal tricolour with centred white disc, fimbriated black, and charged with a black inscription "BdB", the "d" smaller and double underlined, in top of disc were hammer and mallet black, hilted red.
Source: Massary 1928, series 1, image no.250
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 Aug 2019

Norddeutsche Kohlen-und Coks Werke AG

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 Apr 2009
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 July 2012

The company was located in Hamburg. It is a green over white over black horizontal tricolour with a white oval in the centre. Upon the oval are, all in black, hammer and mallet, the symbols of mining, and in the lower half along the edge black capitals "NKCW".
Source: "Deutsche Reedereien und ihre Erkennungszeichen"; 2nd ed.; Hamburg; 1956; p.29.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 Apr 2009

Variant reported 1924 and 1928

Hammer and mallet have white shafts and the "d" is in lower case and double underlined.
Sources: Otto Mathies: "Hamburgs Reederei 1814 - 1914", Hamburg 1924, p.193 and Massary 1928, series 1, image no.251
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 July 2012

A few alterations are needed with my having the advantage over Klaus-Michael Schneider in having a copy of the quoted source. [only an observation, I am not sure which is right with "Koks" also a starter] with the lettering "NK&CW" not "NKCW".
The company was a subsidiary of the Hamburg based Blumenfeld shipping family which operated from at least 1929 with the last ship broken up in 1958. All the ships bore Blumenfeld family names and the flag is based on the Blumenfeld flag of which a version is shown above. It could mean that the central oval of this flag should be more circular [as is shown by Brown 1958] than it seems in the Esso 1956 and 1958 and Flaggen & Schornsteine 1957 books.
Neale Rosanoski, 10 Apr 2010

NKCW rounded version

image sent by Neale Rosanoski, 10 Apr 2010

back to back to B-companies main page click click here