Scarce, Rare, etc.

[Forbush-Man]

Does anyone else think Overstreet is not accurate in their "scarce" listings?

 

Example: Eerie Comics # 1 Avon one-shot. First horror comic. Listed as scarce, but there are already 20 slabbed copies in the census.

 

That's a lot of slabs for a "scarce" book, IMO. I'm betting there are more than 100 copies in existance out there.

 

I like to use the Photo-Journals by Ernie Gerber more so than Overstreet to determine scarcity. Just MHO. Gerber lists "Scarce" as S.I. Number "7", between 21-50 still in existence.

[Forbush-Man]

Gerber S.I. (Scarcity Index) with examples:

 

(1) Very Common (every comic store has one: Spawn #1)

(2) Common

(3) More Than Average

(4) Average Scarcity: 1,000-2,000 exist

(5) Less Than Average: 200-1,000

(6) Uncommon: 50-200 (G.A. Phantom Stranger, Congo Bill, ect)

(7) Scarce: 21-50

(8) Rare: 11-20 (Marvel Mystery #2)

(9) Very Rare: 6-10 (Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1)

(10) Non-existent(?) but known to have been printed.

 

No books were assigned a S.I. of "10".

 

Just FYI

[Forbush-Man]

I have one connundrum with the Gerber Scarciity Index:

 

I own a black & white version of the no-number edition; small size; only 4 known copies exist. It is not shown in the Photo-Journal ( just the 1950 & 1958 regular no-number issues are listed). The 1950 no-number is a S.I. "7" and the 1958 no-number is a S.I. "8". Would mine then be considered a true "10", since a Gerber S.I. "9" is 6-10 copies in existence?

[PovertyRow]

I have one connundrum with the Gerber Scarciity Index:

 

I own a black & white version of the no-number edition; small size; only 4 known copies exist. It is not shown in the Photo-Journal ( just the 1950 & 1958 regular no-number issues are listed). The 1950 no-number is a S.I. "7" and the 1958 no-number is a S.I. "8". Would mine then be considered a true "10", since a Gerber S.I. "9" is 6-10 copies in existence?

 

Interesting question all right, especially since Gerber does have SI 9 - Very Rare: 6-10 and SI 10 - Non-existent(?) but known to have been printed.

 

Interesting he corrected the OS flaw and listed Rare as satrting with 21. But it sounds like he should have gone the Spinal Tap route and made SI 10 1-5 copies and SI 11 Non-existent(?) but known to have been printed.

 

But any way you slice it, you got one rare - err - scarce - errr fabulous (yeah, fabulous) book!

[RareHighGrade]

No books were assigned a S.I. of "10".

 

Actually, Gerber does list existing comic books that have a "10" scarcity index rating. Examples are: Double Action #2, New Adventure #13 and Wow Comics (published by David McKay) #2.

 

RHG

[Forbush-Man]

Gerber "10" ?

 

Hey, what's the best dpi setting for a scanner? This one's a little blurred.

[aardvark88]

Thanks for posting that rare b/w comic proto-type.

For raw comics, I use 100 dpi shrunk down to 70% size.

[Forbush-Man]

Thanks for posting that rare b/w comic proto-type.

For raw comics, I use 100 dpi shrunk down to 70% size.

 

My pleasure, and thanks for the dpi info!

[EwanUK]

Very interesting thread

The point about scarcity ratings is that there should be some weighting based on WHEN the comic was printed. i.e. a comic from 1989 like Miracleman 15 is often referred to as "scarce" - and relative to the other comics of the time it most certainly is with around a 7,000 copy print run. This would probably put it at as a Gerber 3 - but if you had 7,000 copies of a Golden Age book it'd be a different story.

 

There are also books like the Whitmans from December 1980 that are well into the Gerber 9 range (well, so they say). Porky Pig 99 may even be a 10.

 

Double Action 2 can't be a 10 as there are 6 or 7 copies about. Ian Levine's got one for definite. It's a 9.

Double Action 1 is the 10?

 

A question I can nevr get answered is - what other definitive Gerber 10s are there. i.e. that we know were printed but no longer exist?