I don't know the definition of rare anymore.

[Bo_Hogg]

sfcityduck, Preach my brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sqeggs]

Completely OT, but for some reason I'm reminded of a line by the football announcer Don Criqui.

 

Color commentator after a cornerback launches himself at a wide receiver (as they were allowed to do in those days): You know, Don, that guy doesn't know the meaning of the word "fear."

 

Criqui: I think there are a lot of words he doesn't know the meaning of.

[H0RR0RSH0W]

It would appear that the OP of this thread simply has a high standard of what should be called rare. ... If I am catching the drift it is that something is only rare if it is genuinely one of a kind or there about. For example rare is uncommon but uncommon is not necessarily rare.

 

I don't think you've got Bo's point at all. He's lambasting people for calling common, but desirable, books "rare." Such as ASM 1. He's also lambasting people for using the term "rare" as mere puffery.

 

Bo knows what a truly "rare" book is. That's what he searches out. He posted in response to my finding "The Nightingale":

 

That is like freakin incredible!!!!!!!!!!!! That is one of the rarest comics in the world. I have been looking for that forever. Much praise to you!!!!!!!!!

 

That's a book with 6 or so known copies, only two in the hands of collectors (other four in institutions). That's a book I call "very rare," "extremely rare" even. Bo would call MPFW No. 1, about 10 known copies, "rare." He'd call a LOT of books "rare" where there are over 10 copies and it comes up for sale every once in a while. He's not crazy. He's just pissed at the puffery.

 

 

If I am catching the drift it is that something is only rare if it is genuinely one of a kind or there about. For example rare is uncommon but uncommon is not necessarily rare.

Technically, if an item is one of a kind, it's considered unique, as opposed to rare.

 

Personally I would consider a comic rare if I only saw it come up on eBay maybe once every 5-10 years or so, but that's just my opinion.

Umm, ok... but as you will see below these are more synonyms. I think you may be taking me out of context.

 

 

 

u·nique

yo͞oˈnēk/Submit

adjective

1.

being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else.

"the situation was unique in modern politics"

synonyms: distinctive, distinct, individual, special, idiosyncratic; single, sole, lone, unrepeated, unrepeatable, solitary, exclusive, rare, uncommon, unusual, sui generis; informalone-off, one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime, one-shot

"each site is unique"

particularly remarkable, special, or unusual.

"a unique opportunity to see the spectacular Bolshoi Ballet"

synonyms: remarkable, special, singular, exceptional, noteworthy, notable, extraordinary; More

belonging or connected to (one particular person, group, or place).

"a style of architecture that is unique to Portugal"

synonyms: peculiar, specific, limited

"species unique to the island"

nounarchaic

noun: unique; plural noun: uniques

1.

a unique person or thing

 

 

 

 

 

It would appear that the OP of this thread simply has a high standard of what should be called rare. Within reason peoples definition is going to vary and there ought to be some tolerance for that. They are synonymous.

 

If the word rare sets off flags then perhaps it might suffice to say that an item is "uncommon" instead. It seems to me that the relevance to comic book collecting is that desirability needs to be factored in. I mean what about books that once existed in high numbers but over time have become rare because many have been destroyed?

 

 

 

By what I highlighted above, I acknowledge exactly what you've stated below.

 

 

I don't think you've got Bo's point at all. He's lambasting people for calling common, but desirable, books "rare." Such as ASM 1. He's also lambasting people for using the term "rare" as mere puffery.

 

Bo knows what a truly "rare" book is. That's what he searches out. He posted in response to my finding "The Nightingale":

 

 

I am sick of the puffery myself. How about"high grades"?

[MrBedrock]

How about "rare in high grade"...

 

[The-Collector]

If I am catching the drift it is that something is only rare if it is genuinely one of a kind or there about. For example rare is uncommon but uncommon is not necessarily rare.

Technically, if an item is one of a kind, it's considered unique, as opposed to rare.

 

Personally I would consider a comic rare if I only saw it come up on eBay maybe once every 5-10 years or so, but that's just my opinion.

 

I think the Headline 11 that sold recently fits that criteria.

[Cat-Man_America]

How about "rare in high grade"...

 

 

 

Works for me! I'm especially impressed with that Wonderworld!

[jimbo_707]

How about "rare in high grade"...

 

 

 

Works for me! I'm especially impressed with that Wonderworld!

 

 

That one left me a little twitterpated, too!

[adamstrange]

If I am catching the drift it is that something is only rare if it is genuinely one of a kind or there about. For example rare is uncommon but uncommon is not necessarily rare.

Technically, if an item is one of a kind, it's considered unique, as opposed to rare.

 

Personally I would consider a comic rare if I only saw it come up on eBay maybe once every 5-10 years or so, but that's just my opinion.

 

I think the Headline 11 that sold recently fits that criteria.

I thought every one had a copy.

 

 

Church copy

[The-Collector]

If I am catching the drift it is that something is only rare if it is genuinely one of a kind or there about. For example rare is uncommon but uncommon is not necessarily rare.

Technically, if an item is one of a kind, it's considered unique, as opposed to rare.

 

Personally I would consider a comic rare if I only saw it come up on eBay maybe once every 5-10 years or so, but that's just my opinion.

 

I think the Headline 11 that sold recently fits that criteria.

I thought every one had a copy.

 

 

Church copy

 

You have got to be kidding me. I know I throw around superlatives a lot on this board but that book is AMAZING!!

[MrBedrock]

Church copy

That is a gorgeous little funnybook right there. (thumbs u

[markseifert]

Rare is rare

 

While I agree with Bo and others here completely -- it's important to the hobby that we understand what REALLY IS rare -- I think there's a bunch of things in play here that make "rare" a not particularly useful term.

 

Number one with a bullet there is this -- no matter how we purists might define it, or try to educate people about it, to the man on the street, "rare" is something he can't get easily by going to a local store. Seeing copies regularly available online isn't going to enter into it for most people, because ebay has radically changed everyone's notion of what's hard to get and what isn't.

 

And if we were to try to define our terms... and sticking to that Strange Tales #97 example... 115 in the census, let's say there's 750 of them out there for the sake of argument (I'm sure we could quibble about that number, but it's largely besides the point). If we were to tell man on the street, "Strange Tales #97 is not rare, there's probably 750 of them out there." He's going to respond to that with something like "WOW! They printed a couple hundred thousand of those and there's only that many left? That sounds pretty rare to me!"

 

There's probably not much to be done about that. Rare just doesn't mean the same thing to everybody.

 

****

 

Another thing that's going on here is that there's still some hold-over (and associated confusion) from the Overstreet definitions of Very Rare (1-10 copies), Rare (10-20 copies), and Scarce (20-100 copies). Except (almost) nobody ever got that straight, and just generally fudged it to mean something that was scarce or rare was probably < 100 copies or so. Even a bit beyond that, good luck trying to tell people that Action Comics #1 is not technically rare. It's just not going to stick.

 

Add in "Low Distribution" to that, and there was a perception to many that books like Surfer 4 or Conan 3 could be called scarce or rare. And again... once something like that's out there, you're not going to be able to walk that back.

 

Even non-expert-level dealers who were making some effort to divide common from uncommon are going to be calling things rare that really aren't, in that environment. People remembered a listing had a note on it, but didn't remember exactly what it was or what it meant.

 

****

 

Really, I think the terms are lost at this point. You have to try to put a number on it if it's going to mean anything from here on out.

 

[Moondog]

I concur. Rare is rare

 

 

Rare Teachers Variant editon of Picture Parade

 

 

 

 

 

I have one of these so it can't be that rare

 

I purchased it with the outer cover folded back around and didn't realize for a couple of years that they didn't come that way.

 

I own one as well. Mine came folded over too, so it was a happy surprise when it arrived.

 

I've owned one too and probably 10 copies of DD's Atom Bomb.

[Moondog]

I love rare items. Rare items SOMETIMES mean big money. Trouble is, with no demand, the rarest of the rare ain't worth much money to most people...

 

The items that have been pictured so far are all "Rare" (and in my opinion very cool). Trouble is, most of them have very limited interest to most people so translating them into big money could be challenging.

 

At the end of the day buy what you like, spend what it is worth to you and enjoy your purchase!

 

The more rare something is the fewer there are people who have them to sell, which translates to fewer people saying it's worth a lot of money. So if something is rare or even one of a kind, you'll hear people talking them down. But if something is rare in a way that is also common (such as original art; each is one of a kind but the supply itself is endless), people are more likely to say "yeah that's worth money" even if they don't own that exact item, because they know they can get something like it.

 

Take, for example, ashcans. If there had been a of discovery 20,000 ashcans (for each # of a title instead of the first issue only), that would be enough for dozens or hundreds of people to wet their beaks on increased values, and subsequently there'd be more people talking them up, less people talking them down, and the major keys (Superman 1 etc) would be selling for more than they are selling now, despite being less "rare"

 

 

Yes, but 20,000 may be too many. That sounds like Major Inapak to me. More like 100-200 of each would do the trick.

[Moondog]

I relish the fact that I'm the only person on the planet who owns the four Super ashcans. Not DC, not nobody. I know some of you may be tired of me dragging them out every so often to show them off here, but indulge an old guy...

 

[Bo_Hogg]

Mark Seifert you get the intellect award for giving the most intelligent response on my thread.

 

 

Moondog how about I trade you my super rare Alf comic for one of your common Superman ashcans. Everybody knows Alf is way rarer!

[fifties]

 

Rare just doesn't mean the same thing to everybody.

 

 

Best answer to the thread title.

[AlexanderM]

Interesting discussion...

 

Is gold a rare metal?

 

How much gold is there actually in the world?

 

___

 

I see your point, but I do think it could be ok to factor demand into the definition. Because if the demand is extremely high it might be rare to find one for sale - because people don't want to sell it.

 

Maybe it's ok to say that less than 100 copies in existence is still rare (scarce/rare.. one or the other is really Overstreet coming up with their own labels) if the book is a major key?

 

For example, how many normal people has ever seen an Action 1 in person? How many cities around the world has one single Action 1 within the city limits?

 

Or we could look at how other areas define rare: For example in medicine... rare is often defined as "A disease or disorder is defined as rare in the USA when it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time."

 

Maybe Action Comics 1 is rare after all?

[rjpb]

I relish the fact that I'm the only person on the planet who owns the four Super ashcans. Not DC, not nobody. I know some of you may be tired of me dragging them out every so often to show them off here, but indulge an old guy...

 

 

Now that's rare. Great group shot!

[Marty Mann]

Rare is when you can't even get Overstreet to acknowledge that it exists.

 

0220136001

 

mm

[lotemo]

I think that this book was produced in small numbers for private use. I don't know if it's rare but I am only aware of one other copy at this time.

 

The contents are Archie #47 but it's the cover, that appears to have been produced for private distribution, that makes it unusual. I've never read any history of this book but I've always assumed that the Archie publishers produced it for one their fraternity alumni functions.