Why isn't Rarity the No.1 factor in determining a card's value?

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Posted By: E, Daniel

What got me started on this thread was seeing a Matty orange borders SGC10 listed currently on ebay for an outrageous BIN price of $2400, not long after the card appeared here in discussions and had been sitting on ebay with a BIN price of $275ish for months and months earlier in the year - with I presume a different owner.
Similarly, a 1921 Oxford Babe Ruth SGC Aut. just got listed with a BIN price of, wait for it, $2995 !!!!!!!

Now, interestingly enough I own both an orange borders - lajoie SGC20, and a 21' Oxford Ruth SGC10, and as a type collector purchased both examples because of their rarity (sorry leon, feel free to be pissed off and call it SCARCITY if you must!) and my enjoyment of the depictions. I felt both sets undervalued at the price (Lajoie $530, Ruth $500) most especially because of the relative rarity of the issues and felt both had good long term investment potential...........

But seriously, I expected and still expect that there is a process to go through; the issues need to get "re-discovered" (and by that I don't mean serious vintage collectors that frequent the board - but the masses that push prices on ebay and auction houses) and with time and an understanding of their relative scarcities when comparing other issues for those players, that they build strongly in value.

So, I guess the question is, why is it such a long process?
Other antiques and collectables owe their values PRIMARILY to rarity, when all other factors are equal....eg. quality of maker, period, etc...
I mean, there are hundreds and thousands of T206's of the hall of famers, yet the prices they command are extraordinary.
Will that all change in the future?
Like all other collectables, will not the prices for similar items (eg. trading cards of players, printed approx. in their playing lifetimes, and with reasonable depictions of their faces or action poses) end up being valued primarily by Rarity.......

And how long will it take?
And how many of you will be sweating with all those high, high priced T206's?


Daniel