What is your definition of "RARE?"

[tbob]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Paradoxically, the pop reports will often overstate the rarity of common cards and understate the rarity of the stars because people are more ready to drop the grading fees on having stars slabbed than commons.

Good point. +1

[bestsmoke]

I think a Perfect Game is Rare, so 21 or fewer.

[terjung]

Seared on both sides, with about 75% still red in color, and an internal temperature of about 120 - 125 F.

Personally, I prefer the term scarce since that pertains more to the frequency that an item is available instead of how many exist. A card may not have a ton of examples out there, but may have one or two come up for sale every few months. I'm reminded of the frequency with which we see E107 Planks. Based on a recent ad, only 10 have been graded. Conservatively, if we assuming there are an equal number of ungraded residing in collections, that yields a high side estimate of 20 E107 Planks in existance. If we see one or two of them keep showing up for sale, we begin thinking they are very common cards - because we see them. In reality, they aren't all that prevalent, but they do grab attention when they surface. In doing so, they gain a perception of not being "rare".

We should be careful not to compare quantify card types with cards. With 147 players in the E107 set, it is not unusual to find a couple floating around and in auctions (REA has only one this year - not mine, btw). Talk to someone looking for specific examples from a particular set and then scarcity becomes much more clear. Many, many low to mid single digit graded populations in that set. Pretty scarce, IMO. So, I'd disagree with the earlier post which said that E107s are not rare. Once again, finding any common just to have "a type card", would not be tough, but finding a particular one is much, much tougher.

Sticking to the intent of the question, I tend to agree with those who describe a particular card's total population (not just graded) of < 20 is rare - if we insist on using that word.