Hi Barry,
First off, thanks for your informative and interesting post.
With many different issues, cards get a reputation for being the toughest in the set and they often sell for higher prices then tougher cards. I think before the internet age hobbyists didn't really have the luxury of actual numbers to back up how hard certain cards were. Several collectors would find a card to be the toughest in the set and it was labeled the toughest.
Another scenario with some of the really scarce cards is when the money brings them to market more than others that may not be as tough. So the toughest card in the set has a higher population because more collectors want to grade them and cash in. If a card is known as tough, but not the toughest, there's often not enough incentive for someone to grade/sell.
We see it with T207 (Lowdermilk) and E90 (Mitchell,Cinn) to name a couple.
Congrats again on your set.
Rob
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