It was Friday, so of course a Canadian flag was flying over John King’s east-side Colorado Springs house. That’s because Friday was Constitution Day in the land of the maple leafs.

Actually, King had to choose between Canada and Cambodia when carrying out his morning ritual of raising a flag. On April 17, 1975, Cambodia’s civil war ended, and it is considered its modern independence day. But King chose the flag of Canada from the large chest of drawers in his living room where he stores his flags.

“Some days it just comes down to which flag appeals to me most,” King said.

Some people collect stamps. King collects flags, and his flagpole is a mini-United Nations display. He has more than 100 flags – about half from nations he and his friends have visited. The rest are from U.S. states or cities around the globe.

Unlike stamps that get stored in protective books, King proudly displays his collection. Religiously. Every day. From about 8 a.m. until evening.

On March 11, for example, New Mexico’s flag adorned the fiberglass pole in front of King’s house on Avondale Drive north of Constitution Avenue.

The next day, it was Zambia Youth Day, so – you guessed it – Zambia’s flag waved in the breeze.

King’s love affair with flags dates to childhood, and he first started flying flags in 1956 when he was a middle schooler growing up in Southern California. A family friend who knew of his love of flags dropped off a flagpole that he and his father erected in front of their West Covina home.

After a break while he attended college and traveled with his career, King resumed flying his treasures each day in the 1980s when his civilian Air Force career brought him back from overseas to Virginia and he erected a pole in front of his home. Same when he moved to North Carolina, and finally when he settled here 22 years ago.

“My flag fetish has led me to a lot of adventures, wandering around cities looking for flag vendors,” King said. “I was in Budapest a couple years ago and asked the concierge where I could buy a flag, and I spent an hour walking through the city and its arcade of streets trying to find a shop where they sold flags.”

His hobby is more than just collecting colorful swaths of nylon, polyester or cotton.

“Each flag is sort of a history lesson,” he said, pulling one exotic flag after another from the drawers.

There was the city flag of Amsterdam, with its distinctive white crosses on a black stripe and a field of red. And the flag of Venice, with its lion and six unusual tails hanging off one end. Another unique flag in his collection is from Ohio, the only state to abandon the rectangular shape in favor of a triangular design with swallowtail points on one end.

After a lifetime of collecting, King has become an expert on all things flags, from their materials to their dimensions to their designs. He has very strong opinions on what makes a good flag and how they ought to be displayed.

“I’m a bit of a purist,” he said. “Good flags reflect the history and the culture of the place. They don’t need words. And they should be easily identifiable whether they are blowing in the wind or hanging there.”

He pulled out his Colorado Springs flag, with its blue border and a field of white bearing a six-sided shield ringed in green, with rays of sun bursting behind a mountain spotted with gold ingots.

“I think it’s a superb flag,” King said. “It has symbols that truly represent the city of Colorado Springs.”

Don’t get him started about people who fly their flags in the rain, let them twist around a pole or “fly and forget” them, leaving them up all night under a spotlight.

“I get a little picky,” he said. “Put them up in the morning and take them down at night.”

Try doing that with your stamps.

John King holds up the flag of the Czech Republic in his office Friday, April 17, 2015. King flies a different flag from his more than 100 flag collection outside his house everyday. Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette

Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette

Bill Vogrin – Side Streets

John King sifts through a dresser filled with his collection of more than 100 flags Friday, April 17, 2015. Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette

Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette