This is a picture of the item in question
I recently found a souvenir "handkerchief" with 10 flags on it, accompanied by a quote attributed to Hans Christian Andersen - "There is always a clinging to the land of one’s birth." There is a copyright mark on it indicating 1901 and it supposedly belonged to a WWI vet. For the life of me, I can't place this article in the proper historical context. What is the significance of these particular flags appearing together here? The flags appear to be specific, in some cases, to naval/maritime usage and are:
If this isn't the right subreddit, I apologize in advance.
This might be better for r/antiques but WW1-era definitely looks about right based on the flags - you'll notice that's a 48-star United States flag, and the Irish flag is a harp on a green field. Anything beyond that would be speculation on my part.
Maybe try r/vexillilogy.