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Posted By: drc

When the discussion is rarity, I differentiate between a card that is by itself rare (1933 Goudey Lajoie, Baltimore News Ruth) and a card that is not rare except for a variation (T206 Cobb Drum). Their rarity can't be perfectly compared, because they belong in different categories.

Another way to look at it is, with a rare variation card, a part of the card is rare. With a Baltimore News Ruth the whole card is rare. The question then becomes, in a population report, are the cards even comparable and, if so, is one Ty Cobb Drum Back (50 percent rare, 50 percent common) equal to one Baltimore News Ruth card (100 percent rare)? Different collectors will have different opinions to those questions. This illustrates that answering the question of baseball card rarity involves as much subjectivity and personal taste as it does mathematical calculations. Relying on the same population counts, two collectors can have different opinions as to what card is the rarest.