Do Diamond Star prices accurately reflect their relative scarcity?

[brianp-beme]

When I was working on the 1-96 'complete' set around 20 years ago I did so without consideration of the backs. Which by the way is what almost everyone did, and I imagine the majority of current collectors as well. They were almost universally sold without any indication of what 'year' back it had (sometimes blue or green back was mentioned). Because it is not nearly as popular a set as the 1933 or 1934 Goudeys, I believe the pricing of the year variations has never been too much of a factor.

So the fact that in my basic Diamond Stars collection I only have 3 1934 versions of the 24 cards issued in 1934 (#'s 1 through 24) is a fun bit of information. Perhaps an indication that they are tougher to come by, but also that not much attention or premium has historically been placed on these cards, and that this situation persists to this day. I know I didn't care back then, but as the hobby matures I imagine interest in this scarcity will slowly increase.

Brian