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davidcyclebackIt goes without saying that some scarce items are also rare-- the rarity contributing to its scarceness. But, rare or not, there has to be demand for an item to be scarce.
When I sold, I would call a card 'rare' if it's rare (strict numbers). I would call a card 'scarce' instead of rare when it wasn't rare, but demand was high making the cards hard to get or hard to get inexpensively. Most of the scarce cards were limited in number and lots of collectors wanted them. The 1952 Topps high numbers probably don't quality as rare, but are limited in number and demand is high. This scarcity, or demand higher than supply, is seen in the higher prices. The smaller number of high numbers, especially when compared to other series, is a major reason for the scarcity.