It doesn't bother me, there are all sorts of weird terms and abbreviations in our hobby. People still refer to "busting wax" when there haven't been wax packs in ages. They call cards "cabinets" that are not cabinets. They call cards "errors" or "variations" that are not true errors or variations. They approach dealers at tables who have cards clearly marked with prices and ask "What's the best you can do on this?" It's all part of the charm of this hobby, I guess.
In terms of the value of pop reports, I don't think it takes much experience in the hobby to understand how deeply flawed they can be. I also think that when used properly, they can be an excellent tool to HELP a collector understand the scarcity of a card.
It's just important, I think, to understand all the things that might artificially skew the numbers in a pop report.
Once I had a set listed on a registry, and I retired the set. Before I did, I went into the comments on each card and listed what the current population was of each card in that grade, along with how many had been graded higher. It's fun to look at now and then, just to see how many cards in that set were once condition scarcities that are now just regular-old cards. Gives me perspective.
-Al
|