True Rarity: I remember in the early 1980's the sort of standard hobby definition of rare was less than 5 known and scarce as less than 20 known, however now it is probably rare if less than 20 are known and scarce if less than 100 are known. That is the standard that I use when writing auction copy.
Perceived Rarity: Some things seem rare now, but are not in the grand scheme of things. I have not had the 1929 Nu-Grape piece above in several years, but I have sold probably 5 or 6 of them in the past. They didn't used to be rare (at least on the east coast), but maybe are now that most have found their way into collections.
scott
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