Richard Outcault’s historic newspaper comic strip character and his tobacco company sponsor set a high bar for collectors, even when these buttons came out beginning in 1896. In Auction #199 we sold the first ever complete set to be auctioned. Like that set, this 50% complete set was assembled over 4 decades. Building such a collection requires diligence and determination. The complete collection I assembled, is now beautifully displayed in Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore. I am now personally aware of only 5 complete collections. This group would put a collector well on the way to making a sixth. High Admiral Cigarettes began giving these buttons away with their product in 1896. For unknown reasons, the numbered series goes from #1 through #94 and then resumes using flags of the world nations as a theme from #101 through #160. Thus, 154 buttons comprise a complete set. All are 1.25”. Some have an open back with backpaper promoting the company’s cigarettes while others have a tin-covered back with the promotional text stamped in referring to High Admiral, N.Y. Journal and Yellow Kid Cigarette or, on numbers #101 and up “Yellow Kid Flag Collection.” While overall this is a high grade partial collection, we will also specify the small number in less than visually Exc. to Mint condition. Also, we suggest collectors who already started a collection might consider buying this group and merging it to upgrade where possible and then consigning to Hake’s the duplicates. We have grouped the buttons in 3 sections as follows: Buttons #1 through #39 were distributed in larger quantities than all others in the set. Of those 39, this collection includes 30. Two of the 30 which should have backpapers have them missing. Of the 30 buttons, these have small condition issues: #32-lt. all over age dots; #9-tiny craze line but clean. These following have a small quite faint age mark: #1, #7, #13, #16, #19, #22 and #33. The remaining 21 of the 30 in this group all display Exc. to Mint and these numbers are: #3, #4, #5, #6, #10, #11, #14, #15, #18, #20, #21, #24, #28, #29, #31, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38 and #39. The next logical series in the group comprises buttons #40 through #94. Of these 55 buttons, this partial set contains 20. Four with small defects are as follows: #48-1/8” hairline split on rim edge, those with a few ft. spots are: #64, #67 and #69. The remaining 16 which display Exc. to Mint without visual defects are: #40, #41, #43, #51, #56, #58, #59, #65, #66, #70, #72, #74, #76, #83, #86 and #89. The last group, all with some type of flag design, comprised #s 101 through 160. Of those 60 buttons, this group contains 28 plus 2 duplicates. Of the 28 different, 5 have a small condition issue as follows: #132-tiny crazing but clean celluloid, #128-has all over but quite light age dots, the following have a few isolated light spots: #102, #107 and #112. The remaining 23 buttons are all Exc. to Mint without visual defects. These are: #108, #111, #115, #116, #118, #119, #127, #129, #131, #133, #135, #136, #140, #142, #145, #146, #147, #148, #149, #154, #155, #156 and #159. The pair of duplicate numbers, both Exc., are #156 and #159. In summary, of the 154 different buttons this collection contains 78 different plus 2 duplicates. Of those 78 different buttons, 60 are Exc. to Mint and without visual defects, plus the 2 duplicates. This partial set displays as a unit in beautiful condition as is or it provides an Exc. base to build upon. Our complete set in Auction #199 opened at $8,000 and sold (with premium) for $22,278.62. This half-set from the Morry Greener Collection opens at - $4000.