Where have all the insignia manufacturers of the American Merchant Marine managing operators gone? Long passed are the days of enamel flags on high-pressure caps, and so too is true for their makers. Through complex mergers and acquisitions, tools that once struck these diminutive flags found their way to the scrap heap or in the hands of other insignia houses.
GEMSCO of New York under the Elkies family once manufactured a majority of American Merchant Marine steamship company cap flags. The company was established in 1881 and later incorporated as Gordon, Elkies Military Supply Company, Inc. on 31 July 1934 with the State of New York, and in less than a month’s time re-registered as GEMSCO, Inc. on 8 August 1934 – although an abbreviation for the original company’s name, it was implied that it was an abbreviation for the trademark “General Embroidery & Military Supply Co., Inc.” which hid the company’s Eastern European roots. GEMSCO was a one-stop shop for all embroidered and metal insignia items. In time, as was a common practice among insignia houses, GEMSCO subcontracted out most of their production. Enamel flags went to The Reynolds Co. of East Providence, Rhode Island.
The period of mass cap flag manufacture was relatively short-lived in the United States – they had their heyday from the mid-1930s through the late 1940s. Until the 1930s, enamel work was not common for maritime insignia in the United States, but was widespread throughout the British shipping industry. The 1930s saw a shift in insignia styles, first with the Chapman-run United States Lines copying White Star Line’s uniform motifs, and then Dollar and Matson. Eventually, most shipping companies had an enamel flag on their employees’ caps – it was almost requisite for doing business as a serious company; along with the stock certificates with a steamship, a house flag, and buttons with said flag. This insignia innovation continued through the Second World War with GEMSCO providing the bulk of blue water shipping’s cap flags.
Style and economics brought an end to cap flags. Once an item worn by all, many mariners opted to wear their Government-issue cap eagles over cap flags while others switched to cheaper embroidered cap badges. GEMSCO provided the latter first from looms in New York, and then New Jersey. Notable exceptions were Ibrantsen, American Export, and United States Lines which continued to issue them through the 1950s and 1960s. With the collapse of the American Merchant Marine industry in the late 1960s, the market for maritime insignia items was no longer profitable, and their specialized manufacture ceased. In the case of GEMSCO, the company realigned its business during the 1970s with Denmark Military Equipment (D.M.E.) eventually buying Reynolds in the 1980s. Denmark operated Reynolds as the Topper Division of D.M.E. for about a decade, at the tail end of which they closed the East Providence location and subsequently, the tooling for cap flags disappeared – unfortunately, I am unaware as to the range of tools lost during the closure. GEMSCO went bankrupt in 1992 and went into re-organization; it decided to pursue contracts in the law enforcement market. Enamel cap flags are now created from old tools for collectors.
Below is a list of current insignia houses, from where their tools came, and the original owner. If the tools have since been discarded, I have indicated as such. After the list, I have provided vendors (Sources) who offer original or restrikes of the cap flags – and what flags they have in stock (current November 2022). As of 2022, Armour Insignia is the holder of most tools.
Argonaut Line (Armour restrike)
Tool Repositories
ex-Town & Country which acquired the stock of:
ex-Robbins
ex-Denmark Military Equipment [as Topper DME] (New York) which acquired the stock of:
ex-The Reynolds Co. (Lincoln/East Providence, Rhode Island) subcontractor for GEMSCO (New York):
- Alcoa
- American Export
- American Export Isbrandtsen
- American President
- American Republic
- American-Hawaiian
- Argonaut
- Black Diamond
- Brovig
- Central Gulf
- Everett Orient
- Farrell
- Grace
- Gulf & South American
- Isbrandtsen
- Joklar
- Kerr
- Knoch
- Luckenbach
- Matson
- Moore-McCormack
- Olsen & Uglestad
- Panama Railroad
- Rasmussen
- Socony
- Standard
- States Marine
- United Fruit
- United States Lines
ex-GEMSCO:
- U.S. Army Floating Plant & Dredges
ex-International Insignia which acquired the stock of Krew
ex-Krew:
- The Great Lakes Dock & Dredge
ex-Blackintron:
- Southern Pacific (Golden Gate Ferries)
ex-Blackintron which acquired the stock of Braxmar
ex-Charles G. Braxmar Co. (New York):
- Hudson River Steam Navigation
- New York Queens Ferry (NYQ)
- Yonkers Ferry
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ex-Krew:
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VH Blackinton (North Attleborough, Massachusetts)
current:
ex-Charles G. Braxmar Co. (New York):
- Clyde
- J. H. Brown & Co.
- Walter Runciman & Co. / Moor Line
ex-GEMSCO (New York) scrapped 1970s:
- American Mail
- Anchor
- B&Y
- Central American
- Cunard
- Dollar Line (Steward)
- Dow Chemical
- ET (Eastern Transport Co.)
- Essberger
- Munson
- New York & Cuba
- Nobco
- Oceanic & Oriental
- P&O
- Panama Pacific & Bull
- Standard
- United States Lines
- Ward
- Waterman
Sources
When they’re gone, they’re gone… Below find dealers of Period – original cap flags – and only active dealer offering re-strikes.
Period
Joshua Segal of Lost Legions Militaria in Alexandria, Virginia (https://www.ebay.com/str/lostlegionsmilitaria) is the only known source of GEMSCO-manufactured United States Lines cap flags from the 1930s and early 1940s. His stock comes from the 1992 Army-Navy store close-out and liquidation sale.
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Stephen E. Lipski, based in New Jersey, is another merchant on eBay (https://www.ebay.com/sch/reatra05/m.html) who has some stock of original GEMSCO-manufactured cap badges. His stock comes from an Army-Navy store close-out about three decades ago. He offers:
- American Export Lines
- American President Lines
- American-Hawaiian Steamship Company
- Matson Lines
- Panama Railroad Steamship Line
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For over a decade, Robert Steinberg of Pinback Paradise (https://www.ebay.com/str/pinbackparadise) in Medford, New Jersey has been offering the same two cap flags:
- American President Lines
- American-Hawaiian Steamship Company
His stock came from the buy-out of the stock of another dealer two decades ago.
Restrikes
Armour Insignia in Henderson, Nevada (http://armourinsignia.com/) has restrikes available of the following (November 2022):
- American Export Line
- American-Hawaiian Steamship Company
- American President Lines
- American-Export Isbrandtsen Lines
- Argonaut
- Grace Line
- Great Lakes Dock & Dredge
- Hudson River Steam Navigation
- Isbrandtsen
- Moore-McCormack Lines
- New York Queens Ferry
- Olsen & Uglestad
- Southern Pacific Steamship Lines (via Blackinton)
- Yonkers Ferry
Armour Insignia GEMSCO re-strikes are easy to differentiate from period cap badges – the planchets are a bit thicker and have no hallmark; from 1942 onward, GEMSCO hallmarked most of their badges.
Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. 331-352.
