Conditional or overall rarity? Which influences you more?

[Chicago206]

Which is a bigger influence on the items you collect? Conditional rarity, or absolute rarity? Does a high grade common player/common back T206 turn your crank as much as a poor grade BL460 backed card? I prefer absolute rarity. Whats your preference?

[Browncow75]

As someone just getting into the game of rarity, overall rarity is foremost for me. It is also difficult for me to afford "pristine" anything, so rarity has to take presidence over condition. Just my 2 cents on the subject!

[botn]

Absolute rarity.

[JP]

Perfect subject for a poll. Absolute rarity.

[mintacular]

Some things are RARE b/c they are the only ones in a high grade, put that in your pipe and SMOKE it!

[JP]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Some things are RARE b/c they are the only ones in a high grade, put that in your pipe and SMOKE it!

Yeah, that would be one of the two choices -- conditional rarity. Me thinks you didn't read the thread starter...

[Chicago206]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Some things are RARE b/c they are the only ones in a high grade, put that in your pipe and SMOKE it!

Which happens to be the very definition of "conditional rarity".

[Leon]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Some things are RARE b/c they are the only ones in a high grade, put that in your pipe and SMOKE it!

And more are being made each day. That is the problem. And those not only don't smoke well they are also worth a fraction of what people think they are.

[teetwoohsix]

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle-I like mid-grade common's & HOF'ers with semi-scarce backs........

Clayton

[T206DK]

rarity , does not influence my collecting choices. I collect what I like and what interests me, not what I think will make me the most money later if I sell it.

[frohme]

For me, neither, really. Rarity (or more appropriately scarcity) affect how I collect, more than what I collect. What I collect is and has been for a while fairly narrowly defined, surprisingly. T207 and pre-war Pirates.

Knowing which ones are mostly likely not to be seen again - in any condition - drives purchasing priority. After that, relative rarity within the set of collecting interest is the deciding factor. This can be either conditional or absolute.

T207's in SGC 70 or above aren't that plentiful, but seem to be showing up a little more often lately... yes, they're out there, but tucked away in collections, but I'd take either of the "Red"'s in (almost) any grade over any common... and similar to what Ron said above - I'm not a big fan of really ugly cards. I own them purely out of necessity (as if we ever really need cards)...

--
Mike

[buymycards]

I would rather have a PSA 1 T206 Demmit or O'hara than something like a T206 Cobb in a higher grade. Conditional rarity doesn't really mean much to me.

Rick

[Exhibitman]

I don't think high grade common cards are rare because if you need an example of the card to complete a set you can easily get one. I think a card is rare if it is very difficult to find one to acquire in any condition. I prefer to have common cards in common conditions. What interests me most are cards that are very, very hard to find in any condition. Cards that have only a handful (or even one) specimen are the tops for me. I'll take this over a mint common Exhibit any day of the week:

[joeadcock]

Prefer the rarer card, irrespective of condition.

Frank

[JamesGallo]

I will take a rare low grade card over a high grade common every day of the week.

James G