A discussion on the term "rare".

[Leon]

The US mint has circulation numbers of each coin, or better said, how many of each was made. It is usually a specific number...even if many have been lost or destroyed there is a number to start with. That is not a luxury that pre-war card collecting can have except in very rare (no pun intended) cases.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Leon

The US mint has circulation numbers of each coin, or better said, how many of each was made. It is usually a specific number...even if many have been lost or destroyed there is a number to start with. That is not a luxury that pre-war card collecting can have except in very rare (no pun intended) cases.

Right - but what we can determine with a fair amount of precision is relative rarity. I don't need to know exactly how many E101 Cobbs exist vs E102 Cobbs to make a determination that the E101 is rarer then the E102. We have enough information to accurately assign a 1-10 number to each card in terms of rarity, since that scale is relative to other cards.

You start with the rarest card at one extreme and the most common at the other and work out the math in between. I wrote a post about 2 years ago regarding E-card rarity that did just this; they naturally broke into about 6 or 7 groups of rarity.

[barrysloate]

Yes , relative rarity is a useful tool, and that is something you learn when you are in the hobby for a long time. Also, if an E101 Cobb in Very Good condition typically sells for $1500, and an E102 Cobb in the same condition sells for $1200, you assume the E101 is relatively scarcer. But it may not always be true.

[cozmokramer]

most confuse rare -

is it a limited number of something made? or is it a limited number of something available?

i'm guessing the truth is a combination of the two.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by cozmokramer

most confuse rare -

is it a limited number of something made? or is it a limited number of something available?

i'm guessing the truth is a combination of the two.

In the forum, we generally use rare to describe the # that exist and scarce to describe the # that make it to market.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Matt

In the forum, we generally use rare to describe the # that exist and scarce to describe the # that make it to market.

That is the way I think of it too!!

[Potomac Yank]

Originally Posted by Matt

In the forum, we generally use rare to describe the # that exist and scarce to describe the # that make it to market.

*

VS the scarcity mindset.

Guess which one overwhelms this forum?

[botn]

This means that something can be considered scarce once demand exceeds supply. Nothing can be rare based solely on demand.