Original Items: Only One Lot of 2 Available. The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the Soviet flag, was the official state flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1922 to 1991. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from several sources, but emerged during the Russian Revolution. The flag is also an international symbol of the communist movement as a whole.

The Flags In This Lot:

- Flag of the Soviet Union (25 ½” x 50 ½”) & (25” x 50”)

Both flags are nearly identical in construction with minor differences in color.

The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag with a gold hammer crossed with a gold sickle placed beneath a gold-bordered red star. This symbol is in the upper left canton of the red flag.

The color red honors the red flag of the Paris Commune of 1871 and the red star and hammer and sickle are symbols of communism and socialism.

The hammer symbolizes urban industrial workers while the sickle symbolizes agricultural workers (peasants)—who together, as the Proletarian class, form the state. The red star represents the Communist Party, and its position over the hammer and sickle symbolizes its leading role in socialist society to unify and enlighten the workers and peasants in the building of communism.

The flag's design was legislated in 1955, which gave a clear way to define and create the flag. This resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle.

The adopted statute stated that:

- The ratio of width to length of the flag is 1:2.
- The hammer and sickle are in a square with sides equal to 1⁄4 of the flag's height. The sharp tip of the sickle lies in the center of the upper side of the square, and the handles of the hammer and sickle rest in the bottom corners of the square. The length of the hammer and its handle is 3⁄4 of the square diagonal
- The five-pointed star is inscribed into a circle with a diameter of 1⁄8 of the flag's height, the circle being tangent to the upper side of the square.
- The distance of the vertical axis of the star, hammer and sickle from the hoist is 1⁄3 of the flag's height. The distance from the upper side of the flag to the center of the star is 1⁄8 of the flag's height.

Officially since 1980, the reverse side of the flag was a plain red field without the hammer and sickle. In practice however, this was very commonly disregarded by flag makers as it was far easier and less costly to simply print the flag through and through, with the obverse design mirrored on the reverse. It was also common to see the reverse of the flag bear the hammer and sickle in the obverse formation. An example of the flag demonstrating its de jure status as being only one-sided is that of the Soviet flag atop the Moscow Kremlin which bore the single-side official design.

For vertical display, the flag was made with the distinct difference of having the hammer and sickle rotated 90 degrees in order to compensate for the change in dimensions. This was common in official practice, however the common flag owner would simply hang the standard design of the flag by the hoist.

Both flags are in excellent condition with minor fading and moth nips. On the canvas reinforced hoist side on the larger of the two, there are the usual Soviet markings and the date stamp for October 1991.

Comes more than ready for display.