From 1887 to Now: My Original Allen & Ginter Set is Now 91.4% Complete!

A few days ago, I received my latest card for my 1887 Allen & Ginter Flags of the World set build:

That's the variation card for France which has a plain background.  The other France flag card has a much more intricate (or fancy, as it's commonly called) background.  Yep, even in the 1800s card companies had variations within their sets!

Here's the two France flag cards side-by-side tucked away in my binder.

And, just because I like to look at it, here's more of that binder page:

There's something incredibly charming about the old A&G sets.  What I find nearly impossible to comprehend is that I'm now within one card of having the "base set" complete and only five cards away from having the full "master set" complete.  Here's what I'm still hunting for:

Allen & Ginter Flags of All Nations (N9) Wants

Belgium (var: Virginia Brights, "common fancy" printed background) SP

Japan (var: plain blue background)

Papal Standard (var: Papal Standard title)

Roumania SP

United States

As you can see, I'm rapidly approaching the end of the hunt though there's a fairly good chance I'll never acquire the Virginia Brights version of the Belgium card, the Roumania card, or the United States card...Two of those seem to be super short prints while the United States card always seems to go for big money during the few times I've seen it put up for sale on eBay.  No matter, the fact that I am as close as I am to a full set is astounding to me!