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Finials and Fringe

Finials
Fringe

Finials

The appropriate indoor pole ornaments for national flags are, for example, for the US flag an eagle, Canada a Maple Leaf, etc.
I have heard of a few others -
Ukraine has the special U/Trident symbol;
Eritrea a Camel;
Cambodia has had Haman the monkey God;
and some of the Arab Emirates have the Crescent Moon.

john niggley 30-AUG-1995

I don't think there are any standards anywhere for indoor display of flags, but they often follow the military model:

Britain: Royal Crest (Crown surmounted by lion), replaced spearhead 1858
India: Ashoka lions replaced Royal Crest when India became a Republic.
Ottoman Empire: Crescent Moon.
Switzerland: spearhead.
France (1st Empire): Eagle.

In 1857 the Poona Horse of the British Indian Army captured the standard of the Persian 1st Khushgai Regt of Fars, which bore a finial in the form of a silver hand dated 1066 A.D. The Poona Horse were authorized to put the hand on their standard, and have continued to do so since independence.

t. f. mills 30-AUG-1995

Fringe

Fringe on national flags when they are used in parade or displayed indoors, are in the US added routinely.
john niggley 30-AUG-1995

That is more of a military regulation than a general indoor display.

In Britain, cavalry standards and guidons have always had fringe, but with the reduction in size of infantry colours in 1858, fringe was added a year later (because the smaller flags had a "poor effect on parade).
t. f. mills 30-AUG-1995

In the British Army, the use of fringe has been defined in Clothing Warrants and King's/Queen's Regulations. Cavalry standards and guidons have had fringe since at least the Civil War, and certainly from the beginning of the modern British Army in 1660. Infantry colours were fringeless until 1858 when their dimensions were reduced from 6'x5'6" to 4'x3'6". The army command decided that the embellishment of fringe would be helpful because the reduced size had "a poor effect on Parade".

Fringe on the smaller cavalry standards seems to have been common to all European armies since at least the early 18th century.

An interesting aside: I don't know much about Soviet/Russian army colours, but the Christian Science Monitor of 26 Oct. 1994 shows an intriguing photo of the Russian farewell parade in Berlin. Russian units still carried their fringed, red, hammer&sickle; regimental colours, and a special colour guard carried a totally unembellished white/blue/red national colour. It would appear that the national colour had not yet been issued to regiments, nor had old Soviet regimental colours been replaced.

T. F. Mills 04-APR-1996