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Flag with the Osborne bull (Spain)

Flag with the Osborne bull, two versions - Images by José Carlos Alegría, 14 September 2002

The Osborne bull
Flag with the Osborne bull

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Spain

The Osborne bull

Osborne, Spanish makers of sherry, brandy and port, was founded in 1772 by a British immigrant, Thomas Osborne Mann. Osborne's bull was a commercial trade mark of Osborne but the wide presence of the bull all across Spanish roads made it a very popular symbol in the Spanish countryside. When traffic regulations forbade roadside advertisements there was a popular movement in order to permit Osborne's bull to remain in our landscapes. The final resolution was that the bulls could remain but with no words (Osborne) on them.
The Osborne bull is, however, not necessarily associated with Osborne, but is a symbol of hispanidad ("spanishness").

Santiago Tazon, José Carlos Alegría & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 21 June 2009

Flag with the Osborne bull

The Spanish flag with the black Osborne bull is increasingly becoming a supporters' flag at all sort of sporting events. Most surprising was a picture of Spanish Foreign Legion soldiers folding one of these flags, as they were preparing to leave Perejil Island after the 2002 events there.
Those flags are sold everywhere in Spain, except maybe in Catalonia and the Basque Country. The bull is featured on the flag in varying sizes.

José Carlos Alegría & António Martins, 22 June 2009