Rare! Scarce! Etc.!

[Spider-Variant]

I guess I understand the reason people use the terms "Scarce" and "Rare" to describe their auctions. But do they owe us a number? If your item is Rare, what is the approximate number out there? Or maybe, "I only have seen this up two other times in the last year."

 

If they can't quantify the rarity, how do they know it's rare?

 

Probably just something that I would like to see more often. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

 

[goldust40]

A lot of these terms are based on conjecture and what is extant in the market, plus (of course) it's usually relative to the item in question. What is scarce for a BA book may be considered common for a GA one.

 

There is very little way one can quantify anything except for the genuinely rare GA stuff, and that would involve stating that there are "less than 100 copies" etc. Plus a seller would only be using these terms according to his own experience.

 

Many books however, are established by those in the know as being genuinely tough to find, but quantification is another matter, and of course as more books come to the market, received knowledge changes, such as with Gerber's scale.

[hockey&comicsguy]

Last year I was looking to buy a Captain Flight Comics #5. I believe it is listed as scarce in Overstreet.

 

Well, in a span of a few months I saw 1 board member pick up a copy. One copy sold on ebay and 1 sold on Comic Connect. Now, there's another, different copy on ebay.

 

How do you ever really know. It's perceived scarcity or rarity I suppose.

 

[action1kid]

From my perspective as a Golden Age Collector I would say the following

 

Scarce...200 or less copies....examples, Action 1, Detective 27,

Rare.......50 or less copies.....examples, MF52, Adventure 40

Very Rare...10 or less copies..MPFW#1, Famous Funnies Series 1

 

Just my perspective consolidated into a few sentences.

[conditionfreak]

Rare is if you can not go on the internet and find one for sale somewhere.

(a little simplistic I know. But a good enough diffinition for me)

 

Now, something that hasn't been factored in this question is the rarity of comics in a certain grade.

 

So, is Emerald Dawn #1 in 9.9 rare? Since there aren't any, I would assume the answer is yet.

 

But then this way of looking at it, makes a whole lot of modern books rare. So, that stipulation (of grade) is best left out of the question I guess.

[DarkKnightReturns]

I really wish there would be some sort of Gerber scarcity update at least for some of the more popular titles like Tec, Action, MF, MMC etc

 

Has anyone ever done this for any title ? Any update ?

 

 

[action1kid]

I really wish there would be some sort of Gerber scarcity update at least for some of the more popular titles like Tec, Action, MF, MMC etc

 

Has anyone ever done this for any title ? Any update ?

 

 

They do need to be updated from the original Gerber books which I greatly admire as it was a monumental task.

[Point Five]

Last year I was looking to buy a Captain Flight Comics #5. I believe it is listed as scarce in Overstreet.

 

Well, in a span of a few months I saw 1 board member pick up a copy. One copy sold on ebay and 1 sold on Comic Connect. Now, there's another, different copy on ebay.

 

How do you ever really know. It's perceived scarcity or rarity I suppose.

Yep. I think many of the Overstreet "scarce" and "rare" notations are pre-internet & pre-ebay. We know a lot more about book availability than we did 20 years ago.

[DarkKnightReturns]

From my perspective as a Golden Age Collector I would say the following

 

Scarce...200 or less copies....examples, Action 1, Detective 27,

Rare.......50 or less copies.....examples, MF52, Adventure 40

Very Rare...10 or less copies..MPFW#1, Famous Funnies Series 1

 

Just my perspective consolidated into a few sentences.

 

It baffles me how there can be less than 200 Action #1's out there. How many were originally printed ? You'd think because it was a 1st issue more kids might have hung on to them. Also I don't believe Supes was ever targeted by Wertham, Parents groups etc like Batman was. Since Superman was brand new maybe it took a while before kids started keeping their Superman issues.

[action1kid]

That was just an example..It is actually speculated that there are 100 or less copies of Action Comics # 1.

[Boozad]

So, is Emerald Dawn #1 in 9.9 rare? Since there aren't any, I would assume the answer is yes.

 

Well, no. It's non-existant, not rare.

[etanick]

I associate the word "Scarce" or "Rare" with demands as well as supplies. If a book only has 10 copies but 10 people want it, it is hardly scarce or rare but if 1000 people want it, then it is rare because only 1% of the collector can own the book. I am not saying 1% is the number but this is just an example...I am sure each person has a different take on what is rare or scarce....this is just my take.

 

It is meaningless to me to know if there are only 5 copies of something when nobody care to have it.

[action1kid]

I associate the word "Scarce" or "Rare" with demands as well as supplies. If a book only has 10 copies but 10 people want it, it is hardly scarce or rare but if 1000 people want it, then it is rare because only 1% of the collector can own the book. I am not saying 1% is the number but this is just an example...I am sure each person has a different take on what is rare or scarce....this is just my take.

 

It is meaningless to me to know if there are only 5 copies of something when nobody care to have it.

 

So than MPFW # 1 is not Rare ?..............

[the blob]

From my perspective as a Golden Age Collector I would say the following

 

Scarce...200 or less copies....examples, Action 1, Detective 27,

Rare.......50 or less copies.....examples, MF52, Adventure 40

Very Rare...10 or less copies..MPFW#1, Famous Funnies Series 1

 

Just my perspective consolidated into a few sentences.

 

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How is it possible that there are only 50 or less copies of issues from [then] established titles like More Fun and Adventure?

[the blob]

I associate the word "Scarce" or "Rare" with demands as well as supplies. If a book only has 10 copies but 10 people want it, it is hardly scarce or rare but if 1000 people want it, then it is rare because only 1% of the collector can own the book. I am not saying 1% is the number but this is just an example...I am sure each person has a different take on what is rare or scarce....this is just my take.

 

It is meaningless to me to know if there are only 5 copies of something when nobody care to have it.

 

So than MPFW # 1 is not Rare ?..............

 

well, the distinction doesn't really matter given that there are far more than 10 collectors out there who would like to own (and would pay real money for) any of those comics (or any U.S. comic in general) from 60+ years ago that there are 10 or less copies of.

 

sure, if I cranked out a 10 copy limited edition comic depicting an average day in my life, nobody would want it. it would be neither scarce nor rare because all 10 copies could be readily and easily obtained [from me].

[action1kid]

Because thats all thats accountible so far.There is nothing like High prices to bring all these copies out of the woodwork and none[anymore] are comming out.All early More Funs beginning with the even rarer New Fun are scarce.

[the blob]

That was just an example..It is actually speculated that there are 100 or less copies of Action Comics # 1.

 

it's superman 1 that was actually kept by some as a collectors item.

 

action 1... kids probably weren't sure what to make of it. superman 1 came out little later, kids were into Supes...I remember reading an article in Alter Ego or one of those magazines interviewing one of the old time artists and him recounting how he was running around NYC trying to buy a copy of superman 1, but it was all sold out and he finally found one and the newstand guy wanted 50 cents for it (kindah like charging $15 for a brand new issue now!). so, it was a "hot" book back in the day!

 

with that said, krackajack funnies #1 came out at the same time as Action 1 and you don't hear anyone talking about how rare or scarce that one is (I have a copy if anyone is interested...)

[the blob]

Because thats all thats accountible so far.There is nothing like High prices to bring all these copies out of the woodwork and none[anymore] are comming out.All early More Funs beginning with the even rarer New Fun are scarce.

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yeah, but i've picked up pre-#52 copies of More Fun on the cheap (well, relatively speaking, like $100-$150), a lot of people here have copies they've posted...just who the heck is accounting for these? the # of slabs out there? given that a lot of these only guide for a few hundred bucks (not talking about the spectre or dr. fate issues) in G to VG, and that's probably the shape the vast majority of them are in, i can see why they're not getting slabbed. my old more fun is about a G/VG or so and has a little glue touch...I'm not spending $50 or $60 or whatever to slab it!

[comicwiz]

From my perspective as a Golden Age Collector I would say the following

 

Scarce...200 or less copies....examples, Action 1, Detective 27,

Rare.......50 or less copies.....examples, MF52, Adventure 40

Very Rare...10 or less copies..MPFW#1, Famous Funnies Series 1

 

Just my perspective consolidated into a few sentences.

 

I think this is good starting point, but how do you treat these variables in the context of:

 

1) how many were originally printed

2) how many were actually distributed vs rate of attrition pre-distribution (i.e. defects)

3) current market availability

4) census population

5) infrequent sales activity

 

I think without knowing the first two, it will always come down to empirical research with the remaining three and to some extent it will always be construed as a form of knowledge that leaves far too much wiggle room for interpretation. As such, this information will be subject to doubt and criticism by those outside of the "know."

[action1kid]

Well our resourses are limited in counting but the few we have,Gerber, Overstreet and CGC census all say that early More Funs at the very least are scare.In my experience they are scarce....Remember, scare is NOT rare.