The banner of the Rotary Club of Solingen/Germany is made of two different materials: a ribbon with the colors of the city yellow and blue, and a knife of metal.

The banner of the RC Solingen The blade of the attached metal knife in the original banner is unusually sharp. No information can be found in any Rotary manual, if you're allowed to use it for preparing a snack.

The Solingen tradition of manufacturing tableware spans more than seven centuries. Quite early in the history of the industry, production processes were split up, causing the workers to move to different locations. The grinders moved to the banks of the streams and the Wupper, making use of water-power for their grindstones, while the smiths remained in the nearby villages and hamlets. After the fourteenth century this division gave rise to trade Guilds or Brotherhoods who were by degrees granted certain privileges by the Duke of Berg. They enjoyed the right (or the obligation) of passing their craft skills exclusively to their legitimate sons. Only in the Napoleonic period were the Guild privileges finally abolished.

Grinding the Blades Before fine grinding, the blades are covered with emery-paste.

Originally the grinders received their orders from the swordsmiths. During the seventeenth century a class of privileged merchants, previously Guild members, arose. These merchants negotiated with the ,,Brotherhoods" to set the prices for the pieces produced by the grinders, a characteristic remaining to this day. There still exist numerous „home workers" who execute orders for business firms, using their own equipment. The working wife, helping her husband was an important factor in the independent craftsman's business. Until the early years of our own century, women carrying heavy baskets balanced on their heads delivered to buyers goods made by their husbands.

Delivery Woman "Liewerfrau", delivery woman, carrying her delivery basket.