Very rare 1994 Topps Finest Ricky Henderson Refractor?

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

I mean, "very rare" is hardly a specific term with a specific definition. It's more of a relative term. But if you are holden to the specific definition you provided, they are not very rare.

In 1993, the stated print run of refractors was 241 (although that number is disputed). The print run increased in 1994. By how much? We will never know for sure, but the 94 refractors are certainly more prevalent than the 93s. So with certainty I can say the number is >241. And likely by a bit (probably double or so).

But yeah, as a rare 90s collector, I don't consider 94 Refractors hard to find. Nor are the 93s, even though their popularity means they are tucked away in collections. To me, cards /100 or less begin to get hard to find (usually popping up once a year or so). And once you get <50 (which interestingly is your definition), they begin to be so rare you simply have to buy it when you see it, because you may not see if for many years, if ever. I've spent decades chasing some cards /25 or less (even a couple /50 that I can't find).

Originally Posted by saucywombat

There are approximately 200-300 examples of this card in my estimation.

Hmmmm. So I guess the 1994 Topps Finest Ricky Henderson Refractor doesn't approach "rare" by these standard Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide definitions:

Extremely Rare: 1-5 copies
Very Rare; 5-50 copies
Rare: 50-100 copies
Scarce: 100-1000 copies

My own experience with rare modern cards started with the 1996-97 Skybox Metal Universe Super Power cards. The toughest of these were the Armor Plate ones. One Armor Plate Super Power was inserted in every 720 packs. That certainly meets my definition of a tough pull since there wouldn't even be one such Armor Plate Super Power per case. I have all twelve different ones comprising the set:





Up until 2004 I resisted going after any Jersey cards because I regarded them as the gimmick du jour. But when I happened to see this 2003-04 Pacific Titanium 015/155 Ryan Miller Patch card (white against red number) at an AHL game at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, I thought it was so gorgeous that I couldn't resist it:



But that opened a huge can of worms since I'm a completist. So I have to get every card in the set but there are dozens and dozens of possible variants of the Jersey and Patch cards. So needless to say over the years I've accumulated multiple variants of just about every Jersey card in the 2003-04 Pacific Titanium set and some are very rare indeed:





Plus I have the whole set of the Jersey Number Parallels serial numbered xx/150:



I also have 59 of the Jersey cards serial numbered xx/50 from the Jersey Number Parallel set:



I'd be willing to sell one of the above Sergei Samsonov cards because they're very similar. In fact acquiring two more different ones, would mean that I'd exceed the three pocket capacity I've assigned to each player's Parallel Jersey cards.

Then I got into the 2003-04 Black Diamond Parallels. I currently have 9 of the 200 Clarity Parallels plus one Clarity Parallel Jersey card serial numbered xx/10:





Plus I have 58 of the 200 Red Parallels plus 15 Red Parallel Jersey cards serial numbered xx/50:



Plus 113 of the 200 Green Parallels plus 27 Green Parallel Jersey cards serial numbered xx/99 or xxx/100:



Then I discovered the 2003-04 Bee Hive Jersey and Jersey cum Autograph cards the latter of which all meet Overstreet's definition of rare:





Then more recently I started to pick up the 2021 Upper Deck CFL Jersey and Patch cards the latter of which are serial numbered xx/25:





And these 2021 Upper Deck SP CFL Gold Autograph cards serial numbered xxx/115:





So no, I'm not in the least impressed with cards limited to "only" several hundred.