[RedsFan1941]

this post caused me to think about my collection, which has been a work in progress for more than 4 decades. i wrote down my 5 rarest cards -- not necessarily most expensive but truly rare or at least scarce. 4 are pre-war and one is from the 1950s. 3 i bought in auctions, 1 at a NAtional and 1 in a private sale.

the years i got them were: 1985, 1990, 1991, 2001, 2012.

on 4 of the cards, i had seen less than 2 examples ever sell before i bought mine. on three of the cards, i've not seen an example come up for auction since i got mine.

i am in my late 60s. my collection likely will stay with me until i die.

i post all of this because i think there are a lot of collectors like me who when they add a truly rare card to their collection, it stays there. i am not a big fish in this hobby so i can imagine a lot of collectors with my mindset who instead of having 5 truly rare cards, have 20, 50, 100 or more.

even though you see many of the same high-grade and expensive cards come to auction every six months or so, there's a reason the really rare stuff doesnt.